LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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MONUMENT TO THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 



ROUND THE GLOBE 



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BY 



SULLIVAN HOLMAN M'COLLESTER, 

AUTHOR OF 

"after-thoughts in foreign lands and capital cities. 



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ILLUSTRATED. 



BOSTON: 

UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 
1890. 




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Copyright, 1889, 
By the Universalist Publishing House. 



G : 



Saniijnstts Press: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



PREFACE. 



T TAVING made four visits to the Old World previ- 
ous to 1 887-1 888, I set out on my tour " Round 
the Globe " somewhat apprehensive of the pleasures 
and inconveniences of travel. My aim was to improve 
every opportunity for gaining knowledge of lands and 
seas, of vegetable and animal life, of men and society, 
of schools and religions. I went where I pleased, meet- 
ing with kindly natures everywhere, — leading me to 
join the Syrian in affirming that a friend is fairer than 
the roses of Damascus and more precious than the 
pearls of Oman. 

The present volume is the fecord of sight-seeing and 
after-reflection of more than nine months' experience 
in detours round the world. I am not so vain as to 
imagine that the book is free from peculiarities and 
imperfections. Still, my hope is that it may go forth, 
so fortunate as to encourage eyes to see, ears to hear, 
and memory to retain those things which tend to en- 
large mental capacity and adorn human character. 



iv PREFACE. 

May it at least serve the reader as an imperfect mir- 
ror, to reflect somewhat of the real and ideal disclosed 
in my circuit of the globe, inspiring love for the good 
in all lands, and especially deepening sympathy with 
our own country and affection for whatever is worthy 
and truly American ! 

AUTHOR. 

Mapleside, Marlborough, N. H., 
Dec. 15, 1889. 



CONTENTS, 



Chapter Page 

I. BosTox TO Sax Fraxcisco i 

II. Across the Pacific 63 

III. . Japax 76 

IV. Chixa 156 

V. SiXGAPORE AXD CeYLOX I82 

VI. IXDIA 197 

VII. The Persian Gulf, axd the Euphrates axd 

Tigris to the Nile 243 

VIII. Palestixe 281 

IX. Ephesus 297 

X. Athens 305 

XI. Italy axd Malta 312 

XII. Spain 319 

XIII. LoxDox 329 

XIV. From Loxdox through Irelaxd 334 

XV. Nearixg Home = 341 



INDEX 



349 



i 



]\ 



TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 
Monument to the Pilgrim Fathers, Plymouth Frontispiece 

Bronze Statue of Dai Butsu, or Buddha, Kama- 

KURA To face jG 

A Great Cedar, Torii, and Pagoda 132 

The Flowery Pagoda, Canton 156 

The Jumna Musjid, Delhi (the finest mosque in the 

world) 198 

The Taj Mahal, Agra (the handsomest and most costly 

tomb in the world) 220 

Stone inscribed with the Name of S argon I., 

King of Sippira (afterwards Babylon, 3800 b. c, 

the oldest known inscription in the world) .... 252 
Caravan crossing the Arabian Desert .... 268 
The Head of Rameses II. (from his Skeleton in the 

Boulak Museum, Cairo) , 272 

Gethsemane and Mount of Olives, and Roads to 

Bethany 282 

Temple of Theseus and Acropolis, Athens . . 304 

Vesuvius and Ruins of Pompeii 312 

Mansion House and Queen Victoria Street, London 328 
The Lakes of Killarney 340 



ROUND THE GLOBE. 



CHAPTER I. 

BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

THIS is the fifth time the author has started from 
Boston for Europe and the East, Hitherto the 
exit has been due East, but this time it is due West 
and round the world. This city to one New-England- 
born and somewhat accustomed to thread its winding 
streets and somewhat familiar with its quaint history, 
must seem to be a good pivotal point to fasten to, 
while swinging round the globe. In this age of historic 
myths, if its prestige is being somewhat dimmed by the 
intimation that an artistic people occupied this country 
previous to the redmen whom Columbus found here ; 
or that even far back, Asiatic moguls possessed it, con- 
structing curious implements out of greenstone and 
feldspar, working mines, weaving hemp, moulding pot- 
tery, and building mounds ; or that Toltecs became civ- 
ilized here, and were driven out by the warlike Aztecs, 
from Central America ; or that the Chinese long before 
the Christian era settled on the Pacific coast, and the 
Phoenicians came to this continent five hundred years 

I 



2 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

before Christ, — nevertheless, Boston has a marvellous 
history. How could it be otherwise, being so near 
Plymouth Rock, and situated upon one of the most 
beautiful bays ! Her strategic acts in throwing those 
English tea-boxes into the sea and gaining such sig- 
nal victories in the Revolutionary War, have rendered 
her conspicuous. 

However, it is not the outward, so much as the in- 
ward, that tells. In the strife at Marathon between the 
Greeks and the Persians, it was not spears, but brains, 
that won. So it is with this city : it is character which 
is most significant. This expresses itself in the very 
looks and movements of the people. Contrast the 
Pilgrim stock with that of any other nationality, and 
it will not lose by the comparison. Really, it is of 
consequence whether a city or country is settled by 
Turks or Saxons. Here some of the best blood has 
expressed itself in men who have taken advantage of 
the fortunes and misfortunes of all predecessors. 

Accordingly, unique transactions have taken place 
here, creating a peculiar city of more than three hun- 
dred thousand inhabitants, who are devoted to more 
thinking, according to numerical numbers, than any 
other part of the globe. Her public schools and col- 
leges testify to this fact. Her text-books, periodicals, 
and scientific, literary, and theological works emphasize 
it. It is not a small item that Boston has been the 
home of Cotton Mather, Father Taylor, Franklin, the 
Adamses, Channing, Everett, Choate, Longfellow, Phil- 
lips, Emerson, Winthrop, Holmes, Lowell, and hosts ot 
other literati. Her pulpits, courts, publishing-houses. 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 3 

commercial establishments, benevolent institutions, all 
speak in behalf of a cultured people. She has become 
especially famous for her mental and moral develop- 
ments. She well deserves to be called the Western 
Athens. Let her work on in receiving and imparting 
new light, and she is bound to live and grow in char- 
acter, giving to the Old World better things than she 
has received. 

At early morning on the ist of September the face is 
turned westward from Boston, and the question forces 
itself upon the mind, If we keep on in this direction, 
shall we at length return to this city from the east, fac- 
ing it? If so, this will prove the earth's rotundity. 
Whirling out of the city, what masses of brick and 
stone are piled into structures two, three, four, and five 
stories high ! Soon on the left are seen the towers of 
Harvard University, and on the right far aloft stands 
Tufts College : these are as beacons shedding light far 
and wide. In half an hour Waltham is reached, whose 
watches are marking the time in all lands. 

As the brakes hold the train at Concord, this old 
town repeats the thrilling story, — how the Redcoats 
were chased through the meadows as Yankee bullets 
flew, and Miles Standish tolled the bell. Here dwelt 
Emerson, the great essayist; Alcott, the father of the 
Concord School of Philosophy; and Thoreau, by Wal- 
den Pond, where he painted so accurately in word-pic- 
tures the habits of insects, birds, and so many other 
creatures. 

At Fitchburg a thriving city is seen in the valley 
and on the hill. This is a city of enterprise, taking the 



4 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

granite out of the quarry, moulding iron into wondrous 
shapes, turning wood into curious patterns, and weav- 
ing wool and cotton into beautiful webs. 

Moving onward, Winchendon is the next important 
place, and is a typical New England town. But above 
spire and tower looms highest the name of Murdoch, 
who nurtured it and left a fortune to foster it. 

Now ahead, and to the north, rises aloft the Monad- 
nock Mountain, — a huge mass of granite and trachyte, 
standing like a sentinel, swaying his sceptre over all 
around. As the train enters the Granite State the trav- 
eller soon discovers the appropriateness of its being 
called the Switzerland of America. The scenery is 
romantic and picturesque. The train is now rushing 
through the hills and over the valleys. Less than a 
hundred miles from Boston, the valley of the Ashuelot 
River is reached. Many of the names applied to hill 
and water clearly indicate that the Indians once in- 
habited these regions. The lowlands and elevations 
plainly show that once a lake filled this valley. Ages 
were evidently required in depositing and shaping 
these meadows, slopes, and hills. Right in the centre 
of them is nestled the little city of Keene. It is a 
gem of a town in fairest settings. Here the air is like 
crystal, fresh and balmy. How true it is, God makes 
the country, and man the city ! A few miles onward 
and the road is ribbed in with solid rock. How sud- 
den is the change from far-reaching space to closest 
limits ! Quickly we are out of the confinement, and 
what a prospect ! A section of the Connecticut River 
Valley strikes the eye, and in the way-beyond, lo, the 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 5 

Green Mountains ! No more inviting picture can be 
enjoyed in going up or down the Rhine or the Danube 
River ! As the river is approached, the water is clear 
and the banks are bordered with fertile meadows. No 
richer soil can be found in the far West. The corn- 
fields are ripening for harvest. Everything looks clean, 
as though just prepared and hung out for exhibition. 
The terrace formation on either side of the river is 
conspicuous and striking. In some places as many as 
six different geological eras are distinctly marked. As 
the train rushes over the Bellows Falls into the village 
of the same name, the scenery around and above is 
sublime. The castle rocks on the east and the cathe- 
dral projections on the west are not to be surpassed 
for beauty and grandeur by the natural scenery along 
any river in Europe. Here is a thriving village, be- 
cause of a superior water-power, which is applied to 
converting almost countless logs of spruce and poplar 
into paper. What will genius not do by and by? 

We are now on the Connecticut River Railroad. How 
still the wheels run ! Its roadmaster has proved himself 
an adept in laying iron tracks. At Charlestown what 
gigantic elms overtop the quaint old houses ! Here is 
one of the finest private botanical gardens in New Eng- 
land. Though an individual enterprise, still it is for 
the public benefit. All who will can visit and enjoy 
its taste and beauty. Must not the reward of such an 
almoner be great? Here, too, is the home of a hum- 
ble man who has devoted himself to more than eight 
hours of daily toil ; still he has found time to acquaint 
himself with geology, mineralogy, and science, so as to 



6 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

read understandingly the earth and the rocks, and has 
collected one of the best cabinets of common and rare 
specimens in the State. His example shows what may 
be done by the toiling classes, if they will only econo- 
mize their spare hours. So it is : men who have moved 
the world have been devoted to labor and thought. 
The lives of Socrates, Cicero, Frederick the Great, 
Webster, and Elihu Burritt illustrate this truth. 

The scenery up the river is enchanting and diversi- 
fied. The artist who looks upon these pictures must 
long to put them upon the canvas. 

Crossing again into Vermont at the fossilizive town of 
Windsor, one is quite certain to seek a view of its most 
noted institution, the State-prison. Well, so long as 
there are rogues, it will be necessary for some town in 
every State to harbor such an institution ; but is it not a 
misfortune to that town? The environments of a com- 
munity have much to do towards fashioning character. 
The dram-shop and penitentiary are closely allied, and 
always impart a destructive influence to the young. 
Only banish the former, and there would be little de- 
mand for the latter. A few miles from the town is the 
delightful summer home of William M. Evarts, one of 
our most distinguished legal advocates, and an honored 
Member of Congress. A good great man is a prize to 
the nation, and should be prized. 

Some twenty miles onward the passengers begin 
to whisper, "We are approaching the White River, 
where the fatal bridge dropped so many in an unex- 
pected moment into the cold arms of Death." Oh, 
that rushing, crashing, crying, and suffering warn us 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. / 

against requiring so great speed of railroad authorities ! 
Americans are too much given to haste. No wonder 
the Frenchman should feel forced to remark, " How 
the Americans rush into cars and out of churches ! " 
Haste has made waste and terrible destruction in our 
country the past few years. 

As the train bends into the Green Mountain State, 
winding among the hills, the traveller is reminded of 
Alpine scenery. Fresh and grassy are the vales and 
hills ; wooded are the slopes, and lofty are the peaks 
of the mountains. Fat cows and oxen, sleek horses 
and flocks of sheep, are scattered through the pastures. 
Farmhouses and villages on every hand look inviting. 
The people at the stations impress the traveller with the 
feeling, as he inspects them, that they must have kin- 
ship to Ethan Allen, and would be ready again, in case 
of British invasion, to demand the Fort " in the name 
of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," 
and of course would hold the Fort. The Vermonters 
are of sturdy stock, and seem bound to improve their 
acres and enrich their State. Their churches and school- 
houses indicate that they believe in Christianity and 
education. The faces of the lads and lasses are redolent 
with health and promise. The Green Mountain Boys 
hold their own, and improve upon their sires. 

As the sun dips to the west and glints the waters of 
Lake Champlain, the landscape views defy pen and 
pencil to picture them. No more charming body of 
water can be found in sunny Italy or in Erin's green 
isle. Away across the lake is Plattsburg, with its battle- 
field, whence was shot that log-chain which cut down 



8 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the mast of the British brig as it rounded the point, 
expecting to salute Uncle Sam with a destructive blast. 
But speedily the lofty were fallen, and victory perched 
on the standard of the honest and fearless braves. So 
it is : the right in the end is sure to triumph. 

As St. Albans, so famous for its immense traffic in 
butter and cheese, is left behind, the train is whirling 
through the State of Rip Van Winkle. From the nu- 
merous stumps it is plain that this has been a timber 
region, but oats and timothy grass are abundant now. 
To the south some thirty miles are the Adirondacks, so 
attractive to the sportsmen skilled in throwing the fly 
and chasing the deer. Really, these vast forests, so 
dotted with lake and pinnacle, ought to be preserved 
for a national park. 

To the north, the land gradually pitches far away 
to the majestic St. Lawrence River. A more superb 
stream of water is nowhere else to be seen. It is freer 
from sediment than any other great river of the world. 
On from the Great Lakes to the sea it drains a beautiful 
valley. 

The largest town in northernmost New York is 
Malone. This is a rural city, and rendered most con- 
spicuous as having been the home of ex-Vice-President 
Wheeler. He is said to have been an honest politician. 
What a monument such a life is to a city or town ! 
Would that such monuments might be greatly increased 
in our land ! If this State was settled by the Dutch, it 
is certain that the northern portion is now occupied by 
the sons of Erin. Celtic hands here for the most part 
hold the plough, mould the butter, and press the cheese. 



BOSTON TO SAX FRANXISCO. 9 

Saw-mills are common, where logs are being con- 
verted into boards and timber. Granite is now seldom 
seen, but sandstone and lime-rock abound. At differ- 
ent points iron-mines are being worked. This part of 
the country is generally level. Potsdam is another im- 
portant town. Its buildings speak of enterprise and 
prosperity. 

Our route now bends to the south. It is not long 
before we are brought to Canton, the university town 
of northern New York. The schools here are doing 
a grand work in behalf of education. Real culture is 
sure to perpetuate and bring renown to a town. Is 
not this true of Oxford in England, Cordova in Spain, 
and Padua in Italy? 

At Watertown Nature has dammed the Black River 
so as to furnish great power for grinding flour and whirl- 
ing saws. This is an active city, and full of uproar 
just now from the fact that the county fair is going on. 
Everybody is excited about the man who has just as- 
cended in a balloon to the height of a mile, and let 
himself down by a parachute. They said he was a 
pygmy, to all appearances, as he left the balloon, and 
when he reached the ground he was senseless. Well, 
what does such a performance amount to? Who is 
benefited by it? We can discover no more good grow- 
ing out of it than from the cock-pit or the bull-fight. 

At Oswego we find an old city born of land and 
w^ater, standing close on the shore of Ontario and on 
both sides of a river. The facilities for manufacturing 
can hardly be surpassed. Fifty years ago it was the 
great flour-city of the land. The streets are wide, and 



lO ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the city is handsomely built. Along the southern shore 
of Ontario apples, pears, and grapes are abundant. 
Large fields of corn are ripening for harvest; forests 
of oak and pine are common. 

But the climax of this route is the Niagara Cataract. 
New York is renowned for its waterfalls. The Genesee, 
the Trenton, the Cohoes, the Glen, and Little Falls, all 
are significant, and deservedly attract attention ; but 
when these are held in contrast with Niagara, they 
vanish into frivolousness. England may boast of the 
greatest fortress of the world at Gibraltar, Paris of the 
largest theatre and library, Switzerland of the longest 
railroad-tunnel, Africa of the most extended desert; 
but Niagara Falls loses not when compared with these 
for vastness. View it from Table Rock, — what an im- 
mense body of water is pitching over and down more 
than a hundred and fifty feet, and three quarters of a 
mile wide ! In the deep whirlpool what boiling, heav- 
ing, throwing ! No wonder the channel is constantly 
deepening, widening, receding. It is strange how stone 
can resist for any time such an angry, tearing foe. 
Certainly the mightiest mythological gods could do 
nothing to assuage the wrath of these swelling, foam- 
ing, smoking floods. Descend into the chasm by the 
stairway cut through the solid rock, and as you stand 
under the jutting cliffs, look up and southward, and lo ! 
a deluge from the Great Lakes is just ready to over- 
whelm you. The thundering and dashing sounds nearly 
astound you. Face the other way, and how the tides 
hiss, leap over one another and go bounding northward, 
as though frightened by countless demons ! Here and 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. II 

there hang from the cliffs shrubs and bushes, as though 
dreading a fall. At noonday, as the sunlight dips into 
this gulf, the rainbows chase one another around, as the 
vapor dodges in every conceivable direction, spanning 
the chasm with countless brilliants. Three miles below 
the Falls man has stretched across from cliff to cliff 
threads of iron, — so they seem from a distance, — that 
carriage and car may go safely over the yawning tor- 
rents, thus joining east and west with closest ties. 
Coming up from these wild prisons of waters and 
advancing on the American side above the Falls a little 
way, and still another stupendous sight ! It appears as 
if the flood-gates of all waters had just been opened, 
and behold ! they are tumbling in wildest and most 
frightful race onward to the sea. The first impression 
is, you must run in hottest speed to get out of the way. 
These are the so-called rapids ; and whoever gets into 
their clutches is sure to be hurled over the Falls and 
into the bottomless vortex whence none have ever re- 
turned. In examining these wonders, the thoughtful, 
can but keep profoundest silence. One Niagara Falls 
is enough for America and the world. 

The Canadas constitute a vast country. If the word 
kanata, whence the name is derived, signifies " a collec- 
tion of huts," it is not applicable to the lower portions 
at the present time. The broad, level, cultivated fields 
show that it is settled by an enterprising people, most 
of whom are of English, Scotch, French, and Irish ex- 
traction. But it is plain that they are good husband- 
men, from their waving corn and herds of cattle. Much 
of the country is still covered with dense forests, though 



12 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

mills are numerous and yards are piled high with lum- 
ber. Canada is still rich in timber. Her mines of iron 
and coal and her quarries of sandstone and marble are 
inexhaustible. The villages indicate thrift and comfort. 
The cities of Hamilton, Kingston, and London resemble 
towns of like size in the mother country. The name 
of Victoria is very dear to the hearts of the people. 
One would ask for no stronger proof of this than to 
hear the children in their schools sing " God save the 
Queen." The inspiration often breathed into the song 
will lift them from their seats. If the winters here are 
long, the summers are hot. Still the climate is health- 
ful and the people robust. As the train is rushing on, 
insects dodge in and out of the windows. They seem 
to keep apace with perfect ease. Really, how marvel- 
lous is the speed of the fly ! It is said to be equal to 
making the journey across the Atlantic and back, while 
we would be eating an ordinary breakfast ; or if we could 
have a steamer with the speed of the boat-fly, we could 
start at noon to girdle the earth and have it high noon 
all the way round ; or if we could build cathedrals 
proportionally large according to our size to the mounds 
of the termites of Africa, many of the religious structures 
would tower more than five thousand feet in altitude. 
The churches, by the way, indicate that the Roman 
Catholics are the ruling sect in this region. 

The train is taken out of the Queen's dominion across 
the St. Clair River on immense ferry-boats to Port 
Huron. This city is honored with being the birthplace 
of Edison the great electrician. Here we have our 
first ride in street-cars driven by lightning. The great 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 1 3 

inventor's father is still living here in a humble cottage, 
hale and active, though he has lived more than four- 
score years. But the son has lived vtore than the father. 
It is thought that decides the living. One may dwell in 
a pandemonium and live in a paradise. 

Now the course is through the central part of Michi- 
gan, which is appropriately entitled to the sobriquet of 
" the Lake State." At any rate, it is bordered on three 
sides by water. Its surface is undulating and in parts 
hilly and mountainous. Its soil is rich, and its exten- 
sive copper-mines the best in the world. Its fruit-trees 
are bending under their autumn gifts. Probably its 
apples and grapes are superior to any others. The 
farm-buildings exhibit thrift. The ripening corn stands 
high, and covers thousands of acres. The State, no 
doubt, is most indebted for her great wealth and 
prosperity to her public-school system, which is graded 
from the primary school to the university. These are 
exempt from tuition to all her sons and daughters. 
Her State University ranks among the very highest. 
Is it not the Oxford of America? As a State, Michigan 
has been in the Union rather more than half a century. 
Its area is about the same as England, but its popula- 
tion is not more than one tenth as much. With its 
great natural advantages, what possibilities and proba- 
bilities await it ! It is a grand State now, and what will it 
not be a hundred years hence? It is a pleasure to survey 
its cities, its farms, its orchards, its forests, its railroads, its 
water facilities, and anticipate the grand future before it. 

Leaving Michigan and circling round the head of the 
lake of the same name, the traveller is soon ushered 



14 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

into the great city of the West. As he steps out of the 
car and takes one look, he can but exclaim, " What a 
stupendous depot ! What throngs are rushing to and 
fro on every hand ! " He has no disposition to ques- 
tion the honesty of the criers as they proclaim the 
name Chicago. Ah, this is the city of brains and 
grains, of magnificent depots and elevators, of grand 
banking-houses and commercial establishments ! This 
city of five hundred thousand inhabitants is scarcely 
more than half a century old. During this period it 
has been subject to terrible drawbacks. Its fire of 
1 87 1 swept over more than two thousand square acres, 
destroying in less than thirty-six hours two hundred 
million dollars' worth of property. The heart can but 
shudder, as it now recalls that catastrophe. Many of 
the scenes were appalling, and many were sublime. If 
it were a greater disaster than had ever befallen any 
other city in so short a time, its recovery was equally 
astounding ; for two years after the conflagration there 
was scarcely a trace of it left. The seventeen thou- 
sand buildings destroyed were nearly replaced, and 
the seventy-three miles of streets were again occupied 
by new buildings, many of them far more imposing and 
substantial than the old. The secret of this uprising as 
the Sphinx from its own ashes was the sympathy ex- 
pressed by generous hearts from all over the land in 
sending to the sufferers seven million dollars. So it 
always is : real Christianity practises what it preaches. 
The valuation of the city now is estimated at billions 
of dollars. It is making greater shipments of grain, 
meat, and lumber than ever hitherto. Should it con- 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 1 5 

tinue as it has, what will it be two centuries hence? 
Larger than Babylon, that had been growing for two 
thousand years, or than London, which has been in- 
creasing for a decade of centuries. If Chicago is char- 
acteristically a city of traffic, it nevertheless abounds in 
schools, churches, and literary institutions. It publishes 
more than twenty daily papers and hundreds of weekly 
periodicals. The anarchists, who have endeavored to 
bring from foreign lands their pernicious principles and 
to organize them in this city and set them to work, have 
found this hard ground on which to operate. Through 
grievous experience the riffraffs from abroad are begin- 
ning to realize that in our country the only liberty to be 
enjoyed is the liberty to do right. The misanthrope 
may go about with his lantern declaring there is no 
such thing as an honest man; but as he gets behind 
prison-bars and conscience smites him into honest con- 
viction, he is bound to acknowledge to himself that a 
righteous power has brought him to justice. How 
noble it is that the great city has moral significance, 
so that the shrewd intellect and depraved heart cannot 
have freest play ! However great the capabilities of a 
city may be, and however successful its human pursuits, 
these are not the highest ends ; the highest are moral 
tendencies, proclaiming defeat to the wrong and victory 
for the right. 

Fairly out of the city into the country in September, 
the land smiles with gardens and immense fields of 
corn. Forty miles to the southwest is Joliet, one of the 
finest towns of Illinois. This is the market where five 
million bushels of wheat are annually sold. The public 



1 6 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

buildings are made out of stone quarried close by. The 
State-prison is here ; and the convicts work upon stone, 
the work being so managed as to bring a revenue to the 
State. 

As the Michigan Southern train sweeps on, the Des 
Plaines River and the Illinois and Michigan Canal are 
reached. Still westward, and at Norris history recounts 
the first battle of the Black Hawk War in 1831. Exam- 
ining the city now, it is difficult to imagine that here the 
Indian camp-fire once burned, and the redmen's arrows 
flew and their scalping-knives flashed. But barbarism 
has given place to civilization ; the new is better than 
the old. 

Ninety-nine miles from Chicago the train halts at 
La Salle, where are to be seen apparatus for coal- 
mining, structures for smelting zinc and glass, and works 
for making bricks and files. Now on to the longest 
river in the world save the Nile. The scenery is greatly 
diversified. Woods are frequent, and the trees of good 
size. Oaks, elms, poplars, cottonwood, ash, birch, wil- 
low, maples, locusts, and butternuts can be readily dis- 
tinguished. For two hours the California route runs 
through wide-spreading prairies. The fields of corn, 
to the New England eye, seem enormous in area. Ap- 
proaching the Great River, the bluffs of Rock Island 
put in their appearance, where the Indians once made 
a bold stand against their foes, and held out till they 
starved to death. Riding along the embankment, the 
river looks grander than the yellow Rhone or the blue 
Danube. Here are the last rapids of the Mississippi 
River, which are proving of vast benefit to the city of 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. I7 

Rock Island. A splendid bridge extends across to the 
lower portion of the island, beyond which the mighty 
flood of water sweeps to the west, and is spanned by 
another bridge, bearing up the long train as if it were 
on solid stone. 

Just on the opposite bank is situated Davenport, the 
second town of Iowa in population and importance. A 
vast soldiers' gathering is breaking up, as the train stops 
here. The Governor of the State is being escorted to 
the station. He is a young-looking man, but has the 
reputation of having been the bravest of the brave in 
our recent war. The buildings of this city do not im- 
ply that wood and stone are plenty. It is said that 
the old Egyptians constructed their tombs and temples 
to last forever, but that their houses were made so as 
to perish in a little while. So it would appear that the 
houses here are not made to stay. 

From this side of the river is presented a fine view 
of the United States Arsenal, on Rock Island, which 
was removed here 'from the far-famed Harper's Ferry. 
Somehow the facts of history in connection with the 
picturesque of Nature move us most. Why, the very 
spot on which this depot stands is far famed for the 
treaty of 1835 between General Scott and the Black 
Hawk Indians, by which large possessions were secured 
to our Government, Surveying the country around, it 
becomes evident that this whole region was once the 
bed of an extensive lake. Dig into the earth for twenty 
and thirty feet, and it is found to be of aqueous forma- 
tion. Not far south from this point, some years ago, a 
well was being dug. Having descended thirty feet, the 



I 8 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

workmen came upon the stump of a large tree. They 
dug around it, and a few feet lower were found a rude 
axe and saw, proving beyond question that the tree 
must have been felled ages before. Thus it is : those 
who have eyes to see are being constantly surprised 
at the stupendous changes that have been taking place 
in all the ages. No doubt as great revolutions are 
going on now as ever in the past. Were there not 
an overruling power, these apparent disturbances would 
bring destruction. But earthquakes, cyclones, and vol- 
canoes come and go, and still the world continues, and 
order holds its sway. 

The line now is through the best part of Iowa, whose 
name signifies " the beautiful land." Rolling surfaces 
now prevail. Patches of trees are planted, and sizable 
timber borders the gullies. The buildings do not ap- 
pear so neat and comfortable as in the East. The farm- 
yards are likely to be cluttered, presenting no beds 
of flowers. The people evidently live here to make 
money. Fat hogs and steers and horses, it would 
seem, delight their taste most, in whatever sense the 
term is used. Many of these farms are more or less 
involved. It would be difficult to guess how much capi- 
tal from the East is invested in them ; yet no such high 
rates are paid as formerly. Give the State fifty years 
more, and it will have stocks beyond its limits. 

The next important town is Des Moines, the metropo- 
lis of the State, situated on the river of the same name. 
Here is the State University, which has become widely 
known for thoroughness and good scholarship. Its 
buildings and those of the pubhc schools do honor to 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. I9 

the city. Proceeding, and it is not far on, before we are 
winding among knolls and barren bluffs. The scenery 
is weird, and at times desolate. At length the valley 
of the Missouri River is descried, and the signal for 
Council Bluffs is given. This city has sprung from the 
river as by the charms of sirens or the swaying of Nep- 
tune's wand. Crossing the river, its waters are discov- 
ered to be as yellow as the Tiber and as thick with 
sediment as the Nile. Omaha stands fronting the river. 
This city, too, has sprung up as by magic. The past 
two years the population has grown from ninety to one 
hundred and twenty thousand. It is a rushing city, full 
of life and vim. In educational and religious matters 
it is taking long and quick strides. May it not be 
justly styled a precocious city? For it was laid out 
less than forty years ago. Indeed, it has become 
almost a monstrosity ; and it surely will be, if it keeps 
on as at present. It boasts of its fine preachers and 
superior schools. 

Beyond this point the route is up the Platte River 
and through Nebraska. This is a State of wide-stretch- 
ing distances. In the northern and eastern portions the 
soil is rich and fairly well watered. The sunrise here 
is like that upon the ocean. The houses scattered along 
the way and clumped into villages do not imply the 
greatest thrift. Of course we should not expect com- 
plete things here, for the State was not admitted into 
the Union till 1867. It has wrought wonders consider- 
ing it has but recently reached its majority. When it 
shall arrive at its manhood, it promises something mar- 
vellous. The cornfields do not compare favorably with 



20 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

those of Illinois. The stalks are shorter, and the ears 
smaller. At this season the nights are chilly, and in 
the morning the ground is frequently white with frost. 
It is strange how this people can endure the winters in 
their unclapboarded structures. Many of them, per- 
chance, live in dugouts. Wild sunflowers and resin- 
weeds are rank and plentiful. Large flocks of crows 
swoop round the grainfields, and the larks are making 
merry every new day. Large herds of cattle and horses 
are wandering over the ranches, but no buffaloes nor 
deer are anywhere discovered. Trees are very scarce ; 
here and there orchards have been planted. The soil 
is of sedimentary deposit, and generally but sparsely 
covered with grass. The squatters for the most part 
appear as though their lot had not fallen to them in 
pleasant places. 

Having journeyed nearly four hundred miles In Ne- 
braska, whose cognomen signifies " shallow waters," 
away in the distance are to be seen the Rockies resem- 
bling piles of ashes and heaps of snow. One would 
scarcely believe their summits could be three miles 
above the level of the sea. Well, one thing is certain, 
— if those mountains are so high, this State is lofty. 
As the conductor asserts that a great city is only five 
miles ahead, how the eyes open and look and strain 
over the vast, unobstructed plain ! But of a sudden 
Denver is announced, and the cars are soon emptied. 
This is like coming to an island in mid-ocean. All are 
delighted. There is tonic in the air, and something 
here that renders the old young. We are reminded, in 
Greek mythology, of the story of Medea, who by the 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 21 

magic of her incantations kept all in the bloom of 
youthful beauty. The elastic step and quick turn on 
the street remind one of the medieval romance de- 
scribing pilgrims, wondrous and adventurous, in quest 
of the Sangreal, or the treasure hid at the foot of the 
rainbow. It must be that the " philosopher's stone," 
which all through the Middle Ages was untiringly 
sought in vain, has been found. The barometer re- 
ports it to be six thousand feet higher than Boston ; 
surely it can look down upon the Eastern cities. The 
stranger, as he rides through the streets five miles 
north and south and three miles east and west in the 
tramway driven by lightning, beholding the grand 
buildings, must be delighted and surprised to find 
such a superb city so far inland. It is constructed 
mostly of brick and stone ; the latter consists of red 
sandstone and marbles which were quarried near by : 
these make a handsome finish. Fifteen years ago, 
there was only a village here of a few thousand inhabi- 
tants ; while at present it is asserted that the city has 
a population of a hundred thousand, containing more 
rich people according to the number than any other city 
in the Union. The town is built on both sides of the 
Platte River, whose waters have been turned from their 
natural channel by the Holly system, so as to furnish 
the city with an abundant supply for house, garden, and 
mill; and still more water is spread over the surface 
outside of the city through canals, so that wheat, pota- 
toes, clover, and thirty thousand fruit and forest trees 
thrive luxuriantly. The leading business is connected 
with mining. Hence the smelting establishments and 



22 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

mint are looked upon by the Denverites as impor- 
tant factors to their prosperity. Stock-raising, too, has 
proved a great success, and made a necessity for large 
slaughter and packing houses. Agriculture has now 
come to hold an important place ; and not a few are 
sanguine that the time will soon come when it will 
rank second, if not first, in adding wealth to the city. 
The people express a decided respect for our poets by 
naming their school-houses after Bryant, Longfellow, 
Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, and Emerson. These build- 
ings surely are a credit to their namesakes. They are 
the best lighted and ventilated school-buildings of the 
world. The bookstores carry a large assortment; the 
largest is equal to the best in the East. The mercantile 
establishments generally are on a large scale for a town 
far removed from the sea and navigable rivers. The 
University here promises much for the prosperity of 
this city and State. A splendid Capitol building is 
going up which is to cost millions of dollars, and a 
magnificent Methodist Church has just been completed. 
On the Sabbath the churches are usually well attended ; 
however, some few of its stores are open, and the liquor- 
saloons are in full blast. A great financial boom is now 
at red heat. Fabulous prices are being paid for lots 
and buildings. It is difficult to surmise what the out- 
come of this city is to be. The Denverites believe it 
is to become the largest midland city in our country. 
One thing is certain, — the ranches that run far ofi" to 
the east and south must remain very much as they 
are, for they cannot be changed without water, and 
the mountains to the west are made to last. Long's 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 23 

Peak to the north is majestic; Roslin, Evans, Gray's, 
and James's Peaks to the west are gigantic, and Pike's 
Peak to the south is subhme. Whatever becomes of 
man's work, these are sure to endure. The cHmate 
here is variable. Often in the summer the thermome- 
ter indicates a hundred degrees of heat, and in the 
winter the mercury frequently falls twenty degrees be- 
low the freezing-point. But the atmosphere is so dry 
and light that these changes do not seem so great as 
in places close to the sea. 

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad starts from this 
point, going to the south and then to the west over the 
Rockies to the Pacific Slope. It is estimated that five 
hundred travellers enter and leave Denver daily; ac- 
cordingly, the cars are usually crowded. Two roads 
already centre here, and two others are being built. In 
going twenty miles to the south. Palmer Lake is reached, 
which is like an amethystine gem put into the most 
romantic setting; gray, ragged mountains bound one 
side, and wild shrubby ranches the other. But its 
most curious feature is its outlets, — one flowing off 
to the north, emptying into the river Platte, and the 
other to the south, being discharged into the Arkansas 
River. It cannot be questioned that this lake is set 
upon a hill. 

Colorado Springs next attract the eye. This is a 
village of a few thousand inhabitants, and is a special 
resort in the winter for invalids. It is the Nice of this 
country. A short distance from it to the west is Mani- 
tou, with its hot springs, its Rainbow Falls, and its 
Garden of the Gods. This is a summer-resort where the 



24 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

weak and the robust can revel in Arcadian fields under 
the shadow of Pike's Peak. The road now inclines to 
the south, and brakes are applied to the iron horse. 
Hawks are whistling overhead ; blackbirds are frightened 
by the rattling wheels. Pines are scattered through the 
glades, and cypresses shield the flanks of the mountains. 
It is not long before the train whistles into Pueblo, the 
so-called Garden City of Colorado. The name implies 
that the Spanish were here long ago, or else that the 
Indians must have borrowed it from them. It is not 
long ago the wigwam smoked here, and the untutored 
savage caught the trout and chased the deer. Now it 
ranks next to Denver in population, and is fast becom- 
ing a railroad-centre.. From the faces of the people, it 
is evident that all the sons of Noah have representatives 
here, and the different tongues imply nearly as great 
confusion as in the building of the Tower of Babel. 
The town is so hemmed in as to be hot the year round. 
Grapes, pears, and rareripes thrive. On the platform of 
the station is a section of a cottonwood-tree which was 
three hundred and eighty years old according to its con- 
centric circles. It is amusing to see the citizens stand 
round this butt, and extol the vegetable productions of 
Colorado. Pueblo will become a mammoth city, if ad- 
vertising can produce such a result. 

The course is now westward up the Arkansas River. 
Its current is swift and strong. A hundred and fifty 
miles from Denver, the cars roll into Canon City, which 
is wedged in between hills and mountains. The people 
crowd the platform, bound to see who is coming. As a 
man is asked, "Do you enjoy living here? " there comes 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 2$ 

like a flash, "You bet I do !" Then the words fly from 
his mouth, " We have just had a tremendous boom, and 
this has got to be a mighty big city; we have four hun- 
dred prisoners here, and we work them in the quarries, 
and it pays." Now the iron steed with lungs of fire and 
breath of steam, as onward it presses, gives sure proof 
that the grade is rising fast. The foot-hills are left be- 
hind. Vast ledges are drawing close together. The 
train is running along the brink of the river, whose 
waters roar, leap, and bound, as though wild with rage. 
Soon lofty crags menace from above; granite shafts 
shoot up five hundred feet; the antipodal sides draw 
together. Now the serrated columns rise a thousand 
feet above us ; their sides are so steep that no shrub or 
flower can find footing in nook or crevice. This is 
Royal Gorge. The train here crosses an iron bridge 
that is suspended from aloft. It is difficult to under- 
stand how man should even dare conceive of a railway 
being built through such an awful gulf. It is question- 
able whether the old Romans ever constructed a work 
through the Iron Gates of the Danube, or through the 
gorges of the Lebanon Mountains, comparable to this. 
Looking up, there appears to be a measureless vein of 
bluest azure. At length these stupendous foundations 
begin to widen. It becomes easier now to draw a long 
breath. Still the mountains do not decrease, but mul- 
tiply in number, and pierce the heavens higher and 
higher. Ahead, and to the south, are the white-capped 
summits of the Sangre de Cristo. Away up in these 
heights we come to the village of Salida. Strange that 
anybody should think of living here ! How fortunate, 



26 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

however, that mortals differ in taste and desires ! The 
road branches at this point, and one division runs to 
Fremont Pass and the Mount of the Holy Cross. The 
altitude gained is nine thousand feet above the sea, and 
the air the last of September is balmy and comfortably 
cool. You talk with the people, and they do not im- 
press you with the feeling that they are here to stay, 
but to make money, that afterward they may seek for 
some more sunny Eldorado. 

The whistle blows ; the motive power has been in- 
creased by an additional engine. The mountains rise 
more gradually; their sides are dotted with evergreens, 
diminishing in size the higher we go. The road now 
winds and winds, and twists and twists among the 
mountains. It is up and up for hours still. The views 
are inconceivably thrilling and picturesque. Only Al- 
mighty power could have lifted up these everlasting 
mountains ! Snow and clouds rest upon the pinnacles. 
The slanting sunlight gilds the western slopes, dropping 
shadows into the valleys. The barometer is examined, 
and lo ! w^e are riding on iron rails ten thousand feet 
higher than travellers who are steaming across the 
ocean ! Could the ancient dwellers by the Nile be- 
hold this railway on the top of the Rocky Mountains, 
would they not declare this a greater work than piling 
up the pyramids of Gizeh? Really, does it not surpass 
in grandeur any or all of the Seven Wonders of the 
Old World? 

The summit of Marshall Pass is gained as the stars 
shine out one after another, till the whole heavens are 
fired with starlight and moonlight ; and soon we halt for 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 2/ 

the night in the city of Gunnison, which is higher than 
any town among the Alps or the Himalayas. 

As the morning glows over the eastern summits, 
sheets of frost are spread upon fields of grass and grain. 
The dwellers here feel that Gunnison is yet to become 
a great mart. The present hotel is massive enough to 
meet the demands in the centre of New York or Lon- 
don. The appellations of the mountains and streams 
imply that these regions were long the admiration of 
the redman. He must have felt secure, so isolated from 
civilization. Now there are only traces of the tribes 
that once fished in these rivers and ransacked these 
wilds for the wolf and bear. It is at present a mining- 
district, and is fast becoming a railroad-centre. Several 
thousand people are living away up here in the realm 
of alternating clouds and sunshine. The site on which 
the city stands is the basin of a volcanic crater. 

A great variety of lava has been thrown up into 
mounds and bluffs. The plain is composed of ashes 
and scoriae mixed with sand ; so it is naturally pro- 
ductive, and would yield abundantly were it some four 
thousand feet lower. It is singular the New-England- 
born should seek homes here, where they must fight 
against long winters and cold summers ; perspiration 
must be a stranger to them, and pinching cold must 
hold them in its grasp the year round. They but 
seldom have any church service, and their schools are 
of an inferior order. Really, there is a deal of wild- 
ness still lingering in the Rockies. Possibly this is the 
reason why some who have been bred in luxury enjoy 
these highlands, being strained up with cold most of 



28 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the year. No doubt it is fortunate that it takes all 
kinds of people to make a human world, as well as all 
sorts of elements to build up a physical globe. 

Gunnison is left in the morning. The detour is 
westward. The inclination is decidedly downward, in 
places at the rate of two hundred feet to the mile. The 
passengers can but query now and then as to what 
would happen if the brakes should give out? How- 
ever, the scenery is so exciting that they cannot spend 
much time in borrowing trouble. They speed onward, 
downward, turning here, there, wonders everywhere, 
whirling through canon after canon ; now are presented 
masses of granite, then of limestone, then of lava and 
trap-rock. The canons keep drawing together, and 
new ones burst in from the north and the south. Sec- 
tions are piled up in monumental shape, as by human 
skill, and then are castellated, as though they were 
the haunts of Titan gods. For miles the road-bed is 
cut into solid ledges, and runs over frightful abysses 
and thundering waters. Frequently sparkling currents 
come leaping and laughing from aloft, dissolving before 
reaching the depths into silvery vapors. Of a sudden 
the train rushes into the Black Canon. It is rightly 
named. It seems as though a mighty fissure in the 
mountains had just been made, only wide enough for a 
passage through them. Looking up, it is more than 
a thousand feet to the expanded sky. The view is 
bounded by stone and a patch of sky. By and by the 
rock has donned a red cast, like the syenite of 
Egypt. 

After whirling and twisting, the train of a sudden 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 29 

comes in view of Chippeta Falls, whose roaring, massive 
tide pours far aloft. Once more a sharp turn, and 
behold ! a magnificent amphitheatre is spread out, and 
from its centre shoots up the Needle of Currecanti, far 
grander than the pyramid of Cheops or the loftiest 
monument ever built by man. It towers in regular 
tiers from base to apex. It looks as though it were 
two thousand feet high. Round the flank pines of 
considerable size cluster, and continue to rise on the 
sides, becoming less, till, near the top, they are mere 
pygmies. Ah ! Black Canon is king of all its kind in 
the Rocky Mountains. 

Soon Castle Gate opens to Price River Canon. 
Surely the walls here appear as if they must have been 
laid up for actual castles, measuring four and five 
hundred feet high. Examine them ahead or aft, they 
are tremendous. Who knows but the Cliff-dwellers 
of Chase Mountain had a home here? Who knows but 
here was derived the idea of the castles of Scotland and 
along the Rhine? Cimmiron Canon is passed, and 
now the route is to the south and west among the foot- 
hills leading to the bottom-lands of Colorado on the 
west. In this autumn season it is a desolate country. 
Sagebush and greasewood cover the surface of plain 
and hillock, and cottonwood borders the streams and 
gullies. Ground-squirrels are dodging out of and into 
their burrows, while numerous hawks are sailing over- 
head. At length the creeks are left, and we are riding 
through a section where there has been no rainfall for 
eighteen months. No part of the Sahara Desert can 
be more arid than is the ground here for a hundred 



30 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

miles. Once in a while we come to little settlements 
whose habitations look as though they were ready to 
fly away. In these places you are sure to fall in with 
some who blow loud trumpets in praise of the beautiful 
country. But you ask the reliable people if they ex- 
pect to spend their days here, and they are prone to 
reply, " We should feel bad if we felt we should be 
obliged to." Then, as they looked upon their chil- 
dren they would continue, " We lament that these boys 
and girls cannot have the advantages of the East, 
— in schooling and church-going." Statistics show 
there are some counties in this State where no Sunday 
services are held. While going through one district 
a passenger remarks that he saw a ground-squirrel 
shedding tears and licking them up to keep from 
dying with thirst. As the train starts up a bevy of 
quail, a brakeman is heard to remark, " You see we 
have quail on the prairie, but you never discover any 
on your bread." As the train is left for the night at 
Junction City, lodgings are secured in a temperance 
hotel kept by a Maine man who believes in prohibition 
and practises it. He remarked that he was " under the 
tuition of Neal Dow too long to sell liquor in any 
form." His wife is a strong believer in total abstinence. 
Their children have all signed the temperance pledge. 
This surely is an oasis in this dreary land. How for- 
tunate it would be if all parents would thus educate 
their children ! 

Thirty miles on, and Colorado is left behind, whose 
silver products last year were some fifteen million 
dollars, — surpassing, in this respect, any other State 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 3 1 

or Territory. In 1870 it had not a rod of railroad, 
but now it has more than three thousand miles. It 
has also three colleges and more than forty thousand 
children in school. It is physically the loftiest State 
in the Union, and it may, in the far-off future, stand 
highest as to cultured men and women. 

Of a sudden the train darts out into the Utah valley, 
rimmed on the east by the Wahsatch Mountains, on the 
north and south by clusters of hills, and on the west 
by Oquirrh Range. In the oblong centre lies the glis- 
tening Utah Lake, a score and a half miles long and ten 
miles wide. We are now passing among well-improved 
farms. Apples are ripening, peaches are yellowing, 
grapes hang in clusters, and shocks of corn stand high 
and large. This is the Mormon Land. Verily, Nature 
has made it fair and inviting. Indeed, Brigham Young 
showed good taste when he selected it for the home of 
his church. 

As Provo is reached, it presents signs of enterprise 
and prosperity. This is a shire town, and the court is 
in session. A sheriff leaves the cars, who says he has 
come hither to take into the court half-a-dozen horse- 
thieves who are certain to receive a long sentence. On 
the platform are a pumpkin that weighs two hundred 
pounds, and a squash nearly as large. As some of the 
passengers make a trial of lifting them, they soon are 
satisfied that these have substance as well as show. But 
these are monstrosities ; more pygmies than giants are 
produced in this land. 

As the train is about to leave, many new passengers 
enter the cars. Among the number is a woman on the 



32 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

sunset side of life, dressed in black. She has a good 
face, and evidently is a woman of character. On being 
asked if she had long lived in Utah, she responded, 
" Forty years." ** Then it is home to you? " She con- 
tinued : " Yes, I feel so, for my husband sickened and 
died here, and I have a son and daughter settled here ; 
so it is my home." When asked if she belonged to the 
Latter-Day Saints, she quickly replied, " Certainly I 
do, and have for forty years." She furthermore said : 
" When we came here, we did not have the comforts of 
to-day ; for weeks and months we were obliged to sub- 
sist on roots, herbs, and whatever we could find in the 
land. Those were trying times ; but we were ready to 
endure for the sake of our religion, believing the Lord 
would give us prosperity by and by; and he has." 
When asked how she regarded the Edmunds Bill, she 
answered, " I think it is just." " Well, then, you do not 
believe in polygamy? " She responded, " Indeed, I do 
not, and never did." " Do the women or wives here 
generally?" She answered, "I do not think so." 
"Then you are confident it is to be given up?" 
" Certainly, I am." 

Now the train is running along the banks of the river 
Jordan, which is the outlet of the Utah Lake. Its waters 
are clear, and used for drinking. Large herds of cattle, 
droves of horses, and flocks of sheep are grazing in the 
lots. The lands are fenced off. The buildings are 
fairly good, and present the appearance of comfort. 
The foot-hills and mountains in the distance are almost 
countless. Occasionally woods line their flanks, but their 
summits are bare and bleached; while the meadows 



•BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 33 

are dotted with orchards and fields of corn and clover. 
The color of the soil, the contour of the highlands, and 
the saltness of the Great Lake imply that fire once 
raged here, and that the whole region round was subject 
to volcanic commotion. Perhaps this valley was once a 
crater, and the surrounding mountains constituted the 
rim. Utah is rich in coal and minerals. 

As the slanting sunlight tips the peaks and drops 
waving shadows into the vales, fascinating pictures are 
presented, worthy the canvas, and sure to delight the 
most cultivated eye. Just as the western heights are 
shutting off the last rays of the sun, and brilliant colors 
hang above gray rocks and leafy downs, the conductor 
exclaims, " Salt Lake City." Hither the hosts have 
come, and so here they stop. On leaving the station 
and entering the city, the streets are found to be 
straight and broad, extending due north and south, 
east and west. The site on which the city stands em- 
braces six thousand acres, and is laid out in squares of 
ten acres each. Trees line the streets, and water runs 
in the ditches. Brigham Young located the city. His 
works show that he was no ordinary man. The city is 
beautiful for situation. It gradually slopes from the 
north, and is elevated some four thousand feet above 
the sea. Guarded as it is by mountains and arched by 
propitious skies, its climate is moderate and healthful 
the year round. The architecture is rather plain ; how- 
ever, some of the public buildings, blocks of stores, and 
private houses are in keeping with the improved styles 
of Chicago and Boston. But the Sacred Square is 
what is most likely to attract the traveller's eye. It is 

3 



34 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

centrally situated, and is encompassed by an adobe wall 
twelve feet high. Passing through the gate, the striking 
object is the City Temple, not yet completed. It is 
being constructed out of granite, and is one hundred and 
eighty-six feet long, ninety wide ; the towers at the 
corners are to be ninety feet high, and the front central 
tower a hundred and twenty feet high. It will be a sub- 
stantial building, but not imposing or beautiful. When 
contrasted with many of the temples of Europe, it is 
ugly and insignificant. The Tabernacle, which is near 
the Temple, reminds one of the dome-shaped houses 
around the base of Vesuvius. It is elliptical in form, 
and only seventy-five feet high, with a seating capacity 
of ten thousand. Another building in this square is 
the Assembly Hall, which looks more like a church- 
edifice than any of the other structures. 

The guide who conducts Gentile strangers around, ex- 
hibiting the sights, is a burly Scotchman, whose tongue 
is never weary nor silent. If his guests are not well 
informed as to Mormonism and its persecution, it 
cannot be his fault. He boldly declares that the Latter- 
Day Saints are the only Christians in the world, and the 
only Christians that have been since the time of Christ ; 
and that they are to increase, as descendants of Abra- 
ham, and become the restored Children of Israel, in 
order that Zion may be built upon this continent, and 
Christ at length reign here with the Latter-Day Saints, 
who will be clothed with human bodies. 

When asked what he thinks of the Edmunds Bill, his 
reply is to this end : " It is another thrust at the Holy 
Church." When asked if he thinks that the church 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 35 

will submit to it, his answer is : " Of course ; for it is a 
part of our creed to submit to kings and presidents in 
obeying and sustaining the law. Nevertheless, it was a 
command to Abraham to increase and multiply, and 
therefore he took to himself several wives ; and as we 
are the true Abrahamic descendants, we feel that it is 
right and necessary for a man to have as many wives 
as he can support."- He affected great zeal for his 
church. It could not be said of him for his much 
speaking, as Richter said of Luther, " His words are 
battles." He vouches for the infallibility of his church 
and for polygamy, as do the laws of Trent and the Vati- 
can for the Roman Church. So it is : too many try to 
use their religion as the diver does his bell, to descend 
into the depths of worldliness and finally come out of 
the mire in safety, overlooking that irreversible law, 
" As a man sows, so shall he reap." 

Brigham Young's house in which he died is sure to 
be henceforth a Mecca to the Latter-Day Saints. Close 
at hand are other residences which belong to the dead 
apostle, — his " Bee-Hive " (so called, perchance, be- 
cause it contained so many children) ; and his Lion 
House, distinguished by a crouching lion over the door- 
way. These buildings are fenced in by lofty walls, and 
can be entered only through strong gates. 

Across the street is the imposing residence of Bishop 
Taylor, where he was secreted for a long while previous 
to his death. The Edmunds Bill was a terrible distress 
to him. Small houses, made of wood and brick, are 
scattered through the city, occupied by different wives 
of the sainted men. 



36 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

The schools here have been supported altogether by 
the different churches, but now to some extent they are 
introducing the public-school system. Still the Mor- 
mons prefer to have their children educated in their 
own schools. They feel proud of the Deseret Univer- 
sity, and look upon it as their Cambridge, While, as 
a religious body, they have but few worthy to be called 
scholars, still they claim to have no proselytes over six 
years of age who are unable to read and write. 

The Mormon press is under efficient management. 
The editors are men of ability, and publish whatever 
they judge will help forward their cause. 

The municipal government of Salt Lake City, having 
a population of thirty thousand, must be placed among 
the best of the land as to order and economy. The 
policemen are few, and the taxes extremely light. 

No doubt within a few years polygamy will be ban- 
ished from the State. It is believed, if the truth could 
be known, that the women are opposed to it; accord- 
ingly, with this help and the Edmunds Law, which is 
being vigorously enforced, the plurality of wives is 
doomed in Utah. As this curse passes away, prosperity 
will smile upon the land as never hitherto. Business has 
greatly improved within the past year. As polygamy 
goes out, the home industries come in. Salt Lake City 
ought to be a splendid capital, from the fact of its 
natural advantages. The climate, water, and sunlight 
are all that could be desired. 

Salt Lake is fifteen miles from the capital. Its waters 
are nearly as salt as those of the Dead Sea. This is 
eighty by forty miles in length and breadth. The best 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 37 

of salt is manufactured from its waters. There are 
hot sulphur springs just outside the limits of the city, 
which have already become famous for their medicinal 
properties. 

The Latter-Day Saints have a brewery here which 
they claim is after the Divine plan. However, the faces 
of some of their old converts would not imply this. 
What terrible evils have been committed in the name of 
religion ! Men love to sin when they come to believe 
they have found a way of escaping a just retribution. 
Too many have been saying, with Home Tooke, " If you 
would be powerful, pretend to be powerful." But did 
Henry VHI., or Philip H., or Napoleon, or Joe Smith 
make this rule work well? Christ's instruction is to 
the contrary; for he declares that "whosoever shall 
lose his life for my sake, shall find it." Christianity is 
never boastful ; and when a church begins to laud itself 
and claim to be the church, that moment it begins to 
fail spiritually, and is on the road to death, if it persists 
in harboring conceit and false pretension, " He that 
humbleth himself shall be exalted." 

A Londoner tarrying any time in Utah during Sep- 
tember and October would be surprised at the succes- 
sion of sunny days. The air is clear, and the sky of the 
deepest blue. Night and morning the horizon is tinged 
with crimson, and the mountain sides throw down 
sheets of gold. Certainly, this is a land of cerulean 
skies, Castalian dews, and lustrous stars. A ride of an 
hour from Salt Lake City to Ogden is most of the way 
along the shore of the great lake. Its waters tend 
to smoothness, and through the whole day are shooting 



38 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

off silver rays. The farms along the road are in a good 
state of cultivation. Hundreds of acres are being sown 
to winter wheat; frequently fields are literally covered 
with winter squashes. Ogden is a big little city. Its 
railroad officials and policemen are bound to be recog- 
nized as important factors. Now we reach the junction 
of the Union Pacific and Rio Grande Railroad. Listen 
to the conversation of the men who are scattered about 
in small groups, and you will find that it is universally 
about mining stocks. Loud watch-chains are being 
displayed, and things are done on a large scale. Step 
up to a fruit-stand and inquire the price of pears and 
grapes, and you are pertly answered, " Twenty-five 
cents for three pears, and the same for a cluster of 
grapes." Lay down a ten-cent piece that you may get 
its worth, and you are scoffed at with the accusation of 
being " mighty small." This city of a few thousand 
inhabitants has just been having a boom, and financial 
expectations are greatly inflated. After a time, no 
doubt, the inflammation will subside, so far at least as 
to focus the eye to see ten-cent bits, and possibly it 
will not be thought beneath human dignity to receive 
nickels as well as dollars. 

Now for a hundred miles in a southerly course, we 
are advancing along the western shore of the Great 
Salt Lake, and then through the eastern portion of 
Nevada. To the west is to be seen the range of the 
Humboldt Mountains. Close at hand there is but little 
else than a waste of pulverized lava dotted with bunch- 
grass. Once in a while is to be seen a lone settler, who 
reminds you of the old gentleman who was invited by 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 39 

an acquaintance to come out and see his country-seat. 
He went, and found it to be nothing but a stump in a 
meadow. The country-seat of some of the Nevadans 
can be nothing more than a dug-out, minus water. 

At length this dusty region is left behind, to the 
satisfaction of all. But the line is not through Elysian 
fields for some time. An Irishman discourses to the 
passengers upon the splendors of this region. " Oh ! " 
he says, "this is a jolly place for deer and quail; 
it is a great country for roving." Yes, there is op- 
portunity enough for roving, but where is the chance 
for one to sit under any vine or fig-tree? For the 
vegetable growth is largely confined to sagebush and 
dwarf-oaks. When the train stops for lunch in these 
waste lands, it is one dollar for breakfast or dinner 
or supper; and in a few instances the meal consists 
largely of a course of plates and the rattling of dishes. 
It is often amusing to hear the passengers after the 
meal discourse upon its quantity and quality. One 
day a facetious fellow, describing the eggs, said, " The 
hen which laid them was so old that she could not 
produce any sound ones." As a rule, however, the 
travellers have no reason to find fault with the food as 
to quality or quantity. 

Reno is another town of considerable importance on 
this route, which has sprung up as by the stroke of a 
magical wand. Notices are posted thick, saying, " Look 
out for pickpockets and thieves ! " So the world is no 
better here than in the East. The dram-shops draw 
the crowds ; and do you wonder there should be broils 
and robberies? Strange that the love of money leads 



40 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

men to sell their own souls and those of their patrons 
to the Evil One ! 

The dawn is bright, and the new day opens as though 
made to gratify the wishes of those bound for the 
Golden City. For some distance the road is along 
streams that supply the fields with plenty of water. It 
appears now as though the dwellers could live here 
with some comfort. In a few hours the grade is up- 
ward. Forests of oak and pine are on either hand. 
Mills are frequently passed where gang-saws are cut- 
ting out vast quantities of lumber. At length a mining 
village is reached which stands upon the flanks of a 
mountain. It is plain to be seen that all in this town 
are not zealous workers. When it is asked, " How 
many of the miners are truly successful?" a reply 
comes from an intelligent-looking man : " Not more 
than one in a thousand ! " Still, hosts of men stand 
ready to take their chances, and somehow delight in 
venturing. 

The foot-hills of the Sierra Nevadas are being left 
behind. The trees increase in size. It no longer seems 
wonderful that an Easterner once visiting this region 
should have been led to remark, " The trees are so tall 
that one is obliged to look three times before he can 
see their tops." For miles we are riding through sheds 
which protect the road from the snows of winter. 
The barometer, being examined near the summit, shows 
an altitude of six thousand feet above the sea-level. 
These mountains are as romantic and thrilling as the 
Rockies. There seems to be no end to the pine and 
cedar forests. It is surprising to find such monstrous 



BOSTON TO 5-\X FRANXISCO. 4I 

trees at so great a height. On the White Mountains, 
five thousand feet above the sea, the spruces have 
diminished into pygmies ; but here, at a greater alti- 
tude, the trees are giants. As the train is descending 
the western slope, fine views are had of the Coast Range. 
As the train rounds the so-called Cape Horn, it is down, 
down, on one side thousands of feet, and on the other 
it is up and upward to tlie sk}-. Across the jagged 
gulf wavy rays of light play among the trees. The 
outspreading valley so far below; the hillocks so far 
beyond ; and the Coast Range, both bare and wooded, 
tinged here and yon with silver, sapphire, and gold, — 
would otter enchantment to Hill or Rembrandt. 

Hawks can be seen cutting cycloids ; crows are fly- 
ing in flocks ; the bluejays are picking the acorns from 
the oaks. While the train is being made ready for 
safe descent, away across the chasm a traveller spies 
a deer gazing from the brink of a precipice. The Irish 
hunter aboard is excited now. He wishes he had his gun, 
and he wishes he was over there. " Oh," he continues, 
" this is the country for game ! Oh, I had rather live 
here than on the Green Isle far over the sea I " 

The vegetation is varied. The blossoms are of the 
brightest hues, and fill the air with sweetest odors. At 
midday the heat forces all to doff their outer garments. 
It seems as though the change within an hour had been 
from chilly realms to balmiest summer. Here one can- 
not refrain from thinking of sunny Italy, if he has had 
any experience there in descending from Alpine peaks 
into warmest dells. It is extraordinary^ how the people 
have climbed from the valleys and plains and settled in 



42 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

these lofty nooks. The cars stop at short intervals, 
where villages have sprung up close by the railroad. 
The dwellers in them appear cheery and full of hope. 
Now immense clusters of grapes are brought round for 
sale, which might well rival those of Eschol in olden 
days; peaches too are abundant, and most pleasing to 
the taste. The children at the depots are as plentiful 
as the flowers in the glens, and their cheeks are rosy- 
red. A woman enters a car at one of these highland 

o 

stations, with a basketful of the productions grown on 
the lofty slopes, which she is bearing to the Golden 
City. Among other things displayed are bolls of cotton 
which she has just picked from her own field. They 
are large and of a fine quality. These will not only be 
exhibited in California, but will be sent far and wide to 
advertise the land. No doubt they will allure some 
and cause others to leave pleasant homes and well- 
to-do situations, coming thousands of miles to secure 
at high rates a rough patch of land which is nearly 
ready, because of its steep inclination, to fall into the 
plain far below. 

After zigzagging for hours, the train has reached the 
bottom-lands and is running through the Sacramento 
Valley. The farming now is on a large scale. It is not 
uncommon to see lots fenced ofif containing one and two 
thousand acres under cultivation, and controlled by one 
party. The buildings are usually far within the enclo- 
sure. The neighborhoods do not crowd upon one an- 
other, nor would contagious diseases have much chance 
to spread here. Gang-ploughs are at work; some of 
them are driven by steam, and others by six and eight 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 43 

horses. After the wheat is sown and up a few inches 
the farmers let their herds feed upon the fields for a 
time, and then after the harvest the cattle graze the 
stubble as long as they can, and finally are brought to 
the heaps of straw left from the threshing. This ap- 
pears to be rather hard fare for stock, to those ac- 
quainted with the green pastures of Maine and Vermont. 
There must be a deal of silica in the beef raised in this 
land. 

At mid-afternoon the train rolls into the city of 
Sacramento. The depot is spacious. From the differ- 
ent trains and the multitudes of people moving about, 
it is apparent this is an important railroad-centre. The 
bustle and commotion are greater than in Chicago or 
New York City. A surprising noise is made for a 
young city of only twenty thousand inhabitants. But 
the fact of its being in California removes all mysteries. 
Probably there is as much gold displayed in the watch- 
chains as could be found in all the Empire State. 
Even a glimpse at some of the hotels and private houses 
demonstrates the fact that this city is bound to do great 
things. With grace it can afford to be the capital of 
the State. It stands on the banks of the Sacramento 
River, which is about the size of the Connecticut ; osier- 
bushes, poplars, and cottonwoods hedge the stream. 
The citizens delight to speak of their city as possessing 
the best school and church privileges. They extol the 
climate and the great natural advantages. 

Now, as the train pushes on, it is through a level 
country. At this season scarcely any green thing is to 
be seen. The Eastern tourist can but marvel as to how 



44 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the stock can subsist on the dried stubble. But the 
Californian says there is much nourishment stored up 
in the crisp grass. So the New-Englander might assert 
that there is much nutriment packed away in the dead- 
ripe June grass, and so completely hoarded that the 
cattle can never find it. 

But few trees of any kind are to be seen, and the 
question presses itself. Where are the four million fruit- 
trees, the two hundred and fifty thousand nut-trees, 
and the twenty millions of vines which are said to be 
growing in the land? The most common tree is the 
eucalyptus, which is not indigenous and is not proving 
a success. The fields are being sown with cereals each 
year, without putting any compost upon the ground. 
What will be the result of such cultivation in the course 
of a quarter of a century? Why, these acres will be like 
those of Virginia, whose vitality has been destroyed by 
raising tobacco without manuring the soil. It would 
seem that the present generation has little thought or 
care for the future occupant. 

Our course now bears to the eastward. Ranches and 
farms are on every hand. Occasionally Australian 
cedars and Mexican cypresses are discovered. The 
people appear to be in a desperate hurry. At the 
restaurants they eat as if afraid of losing their life. 
The houses are usually small, and look as though they 
had not come to stay. In the distance mountains upon 
mountains loom up. Evidently this valley-plain was 
once the bed of a vast lake or a bay of the ocean. At 
nightfall we are again in the foot-hills of the Sierra 
Nevadas, far to the south. Sleep under the stars here 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCOc 45 

is sweet; the aurora of the new day is brilliant, and as 
the sun rolls up over the mountains it scarfs the whole 
country with fairness. 

The cars are left, and we are now riding in a coach 
for the day. It is pleasant to find the road-bed so 
smooth, as it rises and falls. We are soon among oaks 
and vegetation similar to that of the Atlantic States. 
Of course, new species of flora keep coming to view. 
The blossoms are of the liveliest hues ; yes, many of 
them are of dazzling beauty. But what surprises us 
most are the broad areas of wild oats. The cultivated 
oats strikingly resemble thcoC. The books have stated 
that oats originated in foreign lands ; but the facts prove 
the contrary. Frequent flocks of quail fly across the 
road. The sportsmen aboard can scarcely keep their 
seats as these birds whir about. A few miles on and 
the landscape is made up of billowy hillocks, crumpled 
mountains, extended forests, and cloud-patches. The 
views are incessantly changing. Certainly this is a 
romantic ride. You can experience nothing surpassing 
it in going over any of the Alpine passes. The slopes 
of hills and mountains all along show the efiects of 
prospecting for gold and silver. One rich mine is 
passed that has been worked for many years. A large 
village has sprung up by it, whose inhabitants represent 
numerous nationalities. It is surprising how gold will 
draw human beings from the uttermost parts of the 
earth. As the thickly timbered lands are reached, a 
sluiceway is discovered which extends from far up on 
the mountains forty miles down to the plain and the 
railroad. Indeed, it was no small job to construct out 



46 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

of lumber that water-course which runs boards and 
plank from the mountain top twoscore miles into the 
valley. It is said to have cost two hundred thousand 
dollars. However, the water running in it serves not 
only to float lumber, but is used for irrigation in the 
lowlands. 

We stop in a romantic spot for dinner. The young 
man and wife from the East, in charge of the hotel, are 
enthusiastic over the country. They furnish for one 
dollar each an excellent meal. Near this house is a 
sulphur spring which, will draw the multitudes, if ex- 
tolling its properties will accomplish such a result. 
The road onward ascends, zigzags, and twists along the 
mountains. The barometer now indicates five thousand 
feet above the sea, and, before long, six thousand feet. 
The way is now among sugar pines and cedars, some of 
them two feet, three feet, and five feet in diameter, and 
from a hundred to two hundred and fifty feet high. 
Cattle are ranging through these forests as though they 
had no abiding-place. The road keeps breaking out 
over brinks a thousand, two thousand feet or more, 
down into gulches, or valleys. This experience is 
exciting, and, at times, most thrilling. At length the 
height of this day's journey is gained, and we take a 
backward look. It is one far-reaching sweep of forest 
upon forest, peak upon peak ; and as the glass is placed 
to the eye we can see two little homes away down in 
the mighty forests. Why should people settle there, 
and how dare they ? Bears and wolves haunt these 
woods. 

Now we are descending, still encompassed by a dense 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 47 

forest of magnificent trees. It is surprising that so good 
a stage-road could have been built over such heights 
and down such declivities ! Just now we are passing 
a shanty where a squatter has settled, thinking he will 
remain here till he shall get possession of one hundred 
and sixty acres of this timber land. The husband and 
wife must have some grit, and expect a long life, to 
hazard such an undertaking. A few miles on and we 
come to another settlement where an old bachelor has 
lived for twenty years. He has cleared a small piece 
of land, which is yielding a harvest of corn and potatoes. 
His single-blessedness must be quiet, except when the 
wind blows and the trees creak, groan, and fall. The 
day is nearly gone as the coach and four whirl out into 
the vale of Mariposa and into ,the small village of 
Wawona. Soon we are ushered into Washburn's hotel, 
new and clean from top to bottom. 

The day has been one of exciting experience. None 
having enjoyed it would sell it for gold or rubies. We 
go upon the balcony just as the sun is gilding the tips 
of the mountains, eight and nine thousand feet high. 
One sweep of the eye shows this to be a lovely valley, 
encompassed by grand bulwarks of granite and mag- 
nificent forests. A river flows through it, bordered 
with greenest meadows. To the rear of the hotel is 
a small lake, and, in front, an inviting lawn. New- 
Englanders are made to feel at home at once, for the 
house is under the management of brothers reared in 
southern Vermont. The fare and service are just suited 
to the wants of tourists. 

As night comes there appears to be only a patch 



48 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

of sky overhead, which sparkles and glows thickly with 
stars. Though in a deep valley, yet we are four thou- 
sand feet above the sea. Wawona is a gem of a valley 
in God's own setting. 

As the morrow hastens on, the course is to the south- 
ward, and upward for seven miles, through the sub- 
limest forest on the globe, to Mariposa, the home of 
the Big Trees. We are more than two thousand feet 
higher than at Wawona, riding among the Sequoias, or 
the great Redwood trees. These are giants, surely, of 
their kind. They number four hundred, and are the 
largest of any scattered along this mountain range. It 
is well the Government has set apart some two miles 
square, including these monsters, for a National Park. 
The largest tree is thirty-four feet in diameter near the 
ground, and nearly three hundred feet high. The 
coach and four horses pass through the butt of one, 
and there is considerable margin still to spare. A host 
might find shelter in the base of another. These trees 
are verily stupendous. They are said to be a species 
allied to fossil trees found in the miocene beds in high 
latitudes, and are believed to have been left unharmed 
during the glacial period, because so elevated. Judg- 
ing from their concentric circles, some of them have 
been growing more than six thousand years. So these 
are the most aged sentinels of the world's living flora. 

It is a remarkable fact that these Sequoias, or Red- 
wood trees, occupy only those spots in the Sierras and 
Coast Range which were first laid bare when their icy 
mantles became broken up into isolated glaciers. They 
therefore dot the Sierras for some two hundred jniles, 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 40 

and the Coast Range for nearly five hundred miles; 
but as we go northward the trees diminish in size. It 
is believed that these, since the glacial epoch, have 
never been more widely distributed. It looks now as 
though the time was not far distant when fire and saw 
would demolish them altogether. It is true, as already 
stated, the State has done something toward protect- 
ing those at Mariposa; nevertheless, the sawmill is 
cutting out lumber but a short distance from them, 
and there is no authorized guardsman to protect them. 
The wood of these trees is very durable and handsome 
when polished. A few trees that have long been 
felled show no signs of decay. The Big Tree which 
fell in 1875, girting sixty-nine feet inside the bark, 
exhibits no marks of rot ; and one that has been 
prostrate much longer, whose girth is one hundred and 
seven feet, is perfectly sound. So the woodmen seem 
bound to capture all the manageable trees ; and besides 
this, the sheep-farmers who fire the herbage to improve 
the grazing, and whose flocks of tens of thousands of 
sheep devour every green thing, are certain to destroy 
the seedlings, and thus prevent any new growth. Ac- 
cordingly, the sentence is pronounced upon this noble 
coniferous race, " Thus far shalt thou go and no far- 
ther ; " and possibly before a century shall have passed, 
it will be said of it, " The place which knew it shall 
know it no more." 

From the valley of Wawona to the Yosemite is 
tAventy-six miles, over one of the grandest mountain 
passes of the world. The views along the route are 
beyond description. The Simplon Pass or the St. 



50 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Gothard, in Switzerland, do not outvie this in pictu- 
resqueness or engineering. As you descend into the 
Yosemite, if you have been in the Highlands of Scot- 
land, or scaled the summit of Olympus, or crossed 
over snowy Hermon, or been through the Iron Gates 
of the Danube, you are prepared to say, as you see 
vertical cliffs of solid granite half a mile high, waterfalls 
two thousand feet above your head, — as you take it 
all in, it is too mighty to be pictured in words. Within 
a radius of ten miles it has more grandeur, sublimity, 
and surprising vastness to offer the beholder, — so con- 
fessed by the experienced, — than any other portion of 
the globe of many times its area. This is the Yosemite 
Valley, some two miles in width and ten in length. As 
you inspect the Captain, Bridal Veil, the Virgin's Tears, 
the Great Dome, Mirror Lake, and Glacier Point, you 
can but feel like keeping silence, saying in your inner- 
most heart, " This is thy work, O God, without any help 
of man ! Thou art the greatest of all, and this is thy stu- 
pendous creation ! " Let one look upon all this from 
below or from above, and if he has scanned the Pyra- 
mids of the Nile, the Hundred-Gated Thebes, the ruins 
of Baalbec, the wastes of Babylon, Nineveh, and Per- 
sepolis, how insignificant are all these to the Yosemite ! 
It has no parallel ! It is tremendously romantic and 
sublimely captivating! As the tourist looks and looks 
and meditates, he concludes that the Almighty alone 
lifted up these huge masses and mountains of rock, and 
dropped back a section, leaving the frowning breast- 
works on either side of the yawning gulf; then through 
the glacial period rounded and smoothed, and has been 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 5 1 

finishing the exalted work, that his children might wit- 
ness and admire it as one of the most stupendous ex- 
hibits on the face of the earth. It is a thrilling epic of 
the Almighty in stone ! 

Now we are out of the valleys, down from the 
mountains, and across the plains to the great Western 
City. As the bottom-lands again are inspected, and 
information is gained of the late harvests of cereals, 
grapes, oranges, olives, apples, pears, melons, and 
potatoes, the conclusion is that California has surely 
become the cornucopia of America. She certainly is 
vying with Spain in producing raisins, with Italy in 
yielding oranges, and with Asia Minor in growing olives. 
She now claims the largest butter-dairy, the largest 
cheese-dairy, the largest mining-ditch, and the largest 
hotel on the globe. We can half believe the Titans 
have returned to the earth to rule here, since such 
mighty things are being accomplished. The droves of 
horses and herds of cattle feeding on the ranches are 
immense. In places monstrous fruits are on exhibition. 
But experience has taught us this is not always the case. 
Really California is a State of striking contrasts ; it has 
its cots and palaces, its wealth and poverty, its sunshine 
and storm. It is given to ups and downs, securities 
and dangers, successes and failures. Possibly because 
of its chances and contradictions, it is all the more 
attractive to adventurers who delight in changing for- 
tune. If there is little here to compare in antiquity 
with the Kitchen Heaps of Denmark, the Lake-dwell- 
ings of Switzerland, the mound structures of Ohio, or 
the buried cities of Egypt and Chaldsea, still he will 



52 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

find romance here as he meets with Indian mounds and 
mission churches. It is romantic, indeed, for a wild 
country to become settled and civilized on the basis of 
perpetuity during the life of a single generation, enjoy- 
ing the advantages of public schools and colleges, with 
a brilliant journalism, an extensive commerce, the lead- 
ing mining interests of the world, numerous home in- 
dustries, and peopled with nearly a million of human 
souls. Where will you find a romance of old like this? 

As the train nears the Bay of San Francisco, lo, the 
burning west ! Many an ark of gold is set upon the 
mountain tops. Echoes from the Pacific bear peaceful 
news as the waves lave the shore. Who knows what 
fleets have sailed over these waters, though history tells 
of no Xerxes or Hannibal leading his host hither? 
Still, in spite of this, these waters may have flashed in 
the long ago with blade and spear, and these shores 
rung with victory, as did the Plain of Marathon or the 
field of Waterloo. 

In the distance ducks are dabbling along the shore, 
herons are pacing the beach, white swans are floating 
far out to sea, and gulls are cutting innumerable 
cycloids. Ships are in sight that have sailed from 
Oregon, Alaska, Honolulu, or around Cape Horn. For 
miles and miles the railroad skirts the bay's western 
shore. The hills shut off the sunset view. Soon twi- 
light softens the brilliant glow. A mist broods over 
the Golden City in the distance. The train slacks, and 
" Oakland " is announced. This is the western city of 
schools. The State University is in its suburb, several 
young ladies' seminaries and a normal school are estab- 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 53 

lished here. The train hurries on and along a cause- 
way out into the bay, where a large boat is waiting to 
ferry all who wish across to the great city of the Pacific 
Coast. The night watches are now being set thick on 
high. Before five miles are passed, the gas-jets glimmer 
through the mist and smoke, and soon the electric balls 
dispense almost the light of day. Tickets are taken up ; 
and really all journeying from far or near, as the boat is 
moored, are ushered into a city unlike any other in the 
New or Old World. It is San Francisco. It is far out 
West. 

It is a fact that the cities which have attracted most 
attention and been most admired, have occupied pictur- 
esque and romantic sites. What would Jerusalem have 
been without her valleys and mountains, or Athens 
without her Acropolis, or Rome without her Seven 
Hills, or Naples without her Bay and Vesuvius, or Edin- 
burgh without Calton Hill, Castle Mount, and Arthur's 
Seat? Still none of these can boast of a hundred hills 
over which the city is spread as can San Francisco, 
situated at the upper end of a peninsula thirty miles 
long and six wide at its terminus, thrown up into eleva- 
tions from one to nine hundred feet high. To the north 
of this is Golden Gate, through which the Pacific Ocean 
pours water sufficient to form a bay of six hundred 
square miles. Upon the eastern slope of this peninsula, 
near the Golden Gate, stands the city of San Francisco, 
with a population of nearly four hundred thousand. Its 
bay is a little Mediterranean, shut in by plains, hills, and 
cliffs. The city is an anomaly when its present propor- 
tions are considered in connection with the fact that the 



54 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

first Americans, being trappers, came here in 1826, and 
that the first immigrants coming in wagons did not ar- 
rive till 1844, and that California was not admitted into 
the Union as a State until 1850. As it is studied, with 
these facts in view, it seems like a mythical city, or a 
legendary metropolis pictured in fairy tales. Neverthe- 
less, it is a reality; and the more it is examined, the 
more it is to be wondered at. It is a great mart, carry- 
ing on traffic with all parts of the world through the 
means of railroads, steamboats, and ships. Its streets 
run nearly parallel with the cardinal points. Ride 
through them on cable tramways, horse-cars, or private 
conveyance, and you will be ready to admit they are 
model highways. Then, as you scrutinize the public 
buildings and private dwellings, you marvel at their 
massive proportions, the fine architecture, and the 
handsome stone and brick out of which they are 
constructed. The hotels cannot be surpassed in size 
and elegance. The mercantile establishments and 
banks, the City Hall, Exchange, and Mint, are on a 
grand scale. Go out a mile from the centre of business, 
and you can see the Crocker mansion, the late Mark 
Hopkins dwelling, and the Sandford House. It is 
estimated that these buildings cost six million dollars. 
Go upon Nob Hill in the evening, and a greater display 
of lights can nowhere else be seen. The electric 
burners and the gas-jets away down in the valley and 
away up on the hills and far aloft on the heights, and 
then, a little higher, the stars flaming out, present a most 
fascinating picture. Nothing of fabled story can be 
half so beautiful. 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 55 

All through the day the thoroughfares are crowded 
with people. Ah, how intent they appear to be ! The 
countenances of the men have marks of anxiety and de- 
termination. It is rush and push with them. You soon 
become impressed with the feeling that they are here 
for gain and are bound to become rich. The women 
look healthy, and are attired as though silks were cheap 
or gold most plentiful. Of course there are all grades 
of humanity here. However, there are to be seen in 
public places but few who are very poor. Go into the 
hotels and restaurants at meal-time, and you will be 
convinced that the San Franciscans live by eating. In 
places you can see squashes and pumpkins weighing 
two hundred pounds, potatoes that girt a foot, pears 
six and eight inches long, and clusters of grapes that 
would fill a quart measure. This is a city of abundance 
and fast living. There is more of the material than the 
spiritual here. In social resorts you will hear oftener 
quotations from Dennis Kearney and Karl Max than 
from Whittier or Shakspeare. Inspect an assembly of 
a few hundred, and you will be able to single out fif- 
teen or twenty varieties of nationality, quite unlike 
in taste and appearance, mental and moral condition, 
but a unit in striving for lucre. Some who were re- 
ligious in the East avow themselves infidels and atheists 
here. Charles Dickens once wrote that " the typical 
American would refuse to enter heaven if he could not 
go farther west." Possibly this statement embodies the 
reason why so many out here refuse to walk as of old 
in the narrow way. But the indulgence in strong drink, 
tobacco, and opium is decimating strangely at times the 



56 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

worshippers of mammon. Go to the cemeteries and 
you will be surprised at the numbers who have de- 
parted this life in the city and at an early age, — the 
majority before they reached full maturity. It is 
money that rules here at present. Gold and precious 
stones are conspicuous in chains, rings, and bracelets. 
The fifty millionnaires of the city hold sway, not be- 
cause of moral but financial worth. The natives of the 
country are usually well educated, and interested more 
or less in public schools; accordingly, the educa- 
tional advantages are excellent. Large sums of money 
have been invested in school buildings, apparatus, and 
instruction. The people believe in first-class schools, 
and some of them in first-class churches. It is a little 
remarkable that there should be more church edifices 
in this new city than in Paris, France. In spite of the 
extreme worldliness, there are numerous religious organ- 
izations in it. No doubt the Christian work going on 
will, in due time, triumph over all the opposing forces. 
If ten wise men can save a city, San Francisco will be 
redeemed. Society is not fossilized here as in Europe. 
It is an encouraging truth which history reveals, that 
the cultured in mind and heart in the long run do sur- 
vive the ignorant and superstitious. So, as this West- 
ern civilization is examined, and as it often happens, 
more scum than salt comes to the surface ; it is cheer- 
ing to feel that the leaven of Christianity is working, and 
that its heat is destroying the chaff in order to nourish 
the wheat which is being profusely sown. If American 
freedom was born a pygmy, it has grown to be a giant: 
and thus it is with Christianity. Since Luther's time it 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 57 

has been the all-conquering sword of the Anglo-Saxon. 
It has already made its moulding influence felt to the 
uttermost parts of the earth. It is true the Anglo- 
Saxon is becoming more fully developed in this land 
than he ever has been in the Old Country. Adam 
Smith predicted long ago that the empire of the East 
was to be transferred to the Far West. This idea has 
burned in the heart of the nations since civilization first 
blossomed out on the banks of the Nile ; and a universal 
feeling must have its source in God, and will therefore 
gain the victory. For this reason there is decided hope 
for San Francisco, which has been called the Godless 
City. The speculators and money-worshippers are pre- 
dicting that in the course of a quarter of a century it is 
to become the largest city of the world. " But man 
proposes, God disposes ; " so man's prophecies and 
plans may fail ; still, it is certain the right will prevail 
in the end and afford the fullest satisfaction. 

If San Francisco has been denominated the treeless 
city, it is far from being flowerless. The beauty of the 
town, so far as vegetation is concerned, is in its brilliant 
blossoms in front-yards and gardens. The beds of 
fuschias, roses, verbenas, geraniums, calla lilies, and trop- 
ical plants bloom the year round. So the soil that once 
produced naught but sagebrush and scrub-oaks is 
smiling with the fairest beauties of the globe. In some 
parts of the city are to be seen the eucalyptus tree, the 
Australian acacia, and the Monterey cypress. 

This city has several libraries, containing in all more 
than two hundred thousand volumes. If the best of 
these are being read, they will introduce into this com- 



58 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

munity prophet and apostle, sage and philosopher, poet 
and scholar; so that they will have an abode here, and 
will become known and loved better than they were in 
their own cities and times. Books serve to keep men 
alive. Accordingly, Socrates, Saint John, and Milton 
are speaking more emphatically than they did when in 
this life. They now go whithersoever they are bidden. 
Really, what companionship the lovers of books enjoy! 
The city cannot become truly attractive without books. 

The club-rooms occupy conspicuous places here, 
lending their influence for weal or woe. It is to be 
lamented that often their tendency is downward, for 
they sometimes do popularize vice, and hence draw 
from the home and the Church. Possibly they would 
not have had an existence if the Church had provided 
innocent pastimes, as it ought to have done. The 
young must have the opportunity of laughing and 
being social, and if they cannot be thus blessed in the 
home and the religious community, they are bound 
to have it elsewhere. So the remedy to the social 
wrongs is plain : just provide them in the proper 
places and at the proper seasons, and the wrong will 
be removed. 

The journals and periodicals of San Francisco are 
decidedly smart. They portray surely the coloring of 
the West. Their word-painting can scarcely be equalled. 
If the Golden City is not the greatest on the globe, and 
California the greatest State of the American Republic, 
it is no fault of the press ; for it iterates and reiterates 
that California has the largest mines, the largest farms, 
the largest trees ; produces the largest amount of wool, 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 59 

of raisins, of wine, and gold, of any other division of the 
earth. Half a dozen dailies and many weeklies are 
issued. On the western coast of our country there are 
seven hundred printing establishments, and more than 
four hundred periodicals published. The literary busi- 
ness amounts annually to three and a half million dol- 
lars. The people believe in advertising. The daily 
papers sell for five cents apiece. In fact, you will see 
here no smaller change than the nickel. 

The tourist who has heard so much for the past few 
years about the Chinamen, but has seen only now and 
then one, must needs visit that part of the city known 
as Chinatown, and he will discover stranger things than 
he has dreamed of. As he enters it the houses look 
very odd, and the people appear exceedingly strange. 
He finds twenty-two thousand quartered here. The 
buildings are small and booth-like. It would seem as if 
they had just alighted and were soon to fly away. The 
people are clad in thin blue cotton frocks, pouched 
trousers, and wooden shoes. Some are engaged in 
manufacturing cigars, and others are smoking them; 
some are weaving with the old-fashioned loom ; others 
are mending shoes on the sidewalk; others trading in 
a small way ; and others are lying on the ground sleep- 
ing off the effects of opium. 

Their temples dedicated to Buddhism differ but slightly 
in shape from the houses, having some tinselled flum- 
mery over the balconies. Within the church you find 
a single room with alcoves on the sides, where in one 
you meet with the image of Yum-Ten-Tin, who is the 
god of the waters, and receives only tea as an offering ; 



6o ROUND THE GLOBE. 

in another niche is Rowan-Tal, who settles all dis- 
putes; in another nook is Nam-Hul-Hung-Shing- 
Tal, who is the god of fire and the Southern seas. 
They offer unto him meat, grapes, and wine. In their 
service they are lawless and noisy. They have no 
Sabbath, but many feast-days on which they give 
special honor to their gods. Their religion has little 
to do with character, or with improving their morals. 
If they can gain the favor of the gods, this satisfies 
them. Such a religion cannot elevate and ennoble, 

San Francisco is favored with many outings by land 
and water. The Golden Gate Park, two miles from the 
centre of the city to the north, is one of the most in- 
teresting. It contains an area of a thousand acres, 
and numerous elevations from a few feet to a thousand. 
It is tastefully divided by drives and avenues. Near 
the main entrance are beds and parterres of charming 
flowers and plants. Lawns of the greenest grass are 
now common where but a few years since there was 
Httle besides barrenness. Three thousand trees have 
been planted within the grounds, consisting largely of 
pines and cypresses. The influence of this Park must 
tend to refinement and a growing love for the beautiful. 
Certainly the solitary place has been made to blossom 
like the rose. 

Another resort is the Presidio Reserve, embracing 
fifteen acres, and set aside by the nation as military 
grounds. It fronts the Golden Gate. General McDow- 
ell has left his mark here in the way of constructing 
fine roads and setting out trees. 

Not far from these grounds is the Cliff House, which 



BOSTON TO SAN FRANCISCO. 6l 

stands upon bluffs close upon the ocean. It is a 
romantic spot; still, its chief attraction is its outlook 
upon a cluster of rocks in the water, where the sea-lions 
in warm weather are wont to sport. The Government 
protects these innocent and curious creatures. 

Another place of special interest in the city is the 
Woodward Menagerie, occupying an area of seven 
acres. The common wild animals of the country are 
to be seen here. In it, too, is an aquarium containing 
specimens of the fish of this coast. 

Besides these attractions there are many others about 
San Francisco. Five miles to the south is Oakland, 
which is to this city what Brooklyn is to New York ; 
and a short distance to the east from Oakland is 
Berkeley, where the State University is situated. 

The more San Francisco is examined the more 
marvellous it becomes. It must be seen to be known. 
Let the East and the West mingle freely together, and 
this will result in levelling society, and bringing the 
masses to know that one part of the country is not to 
be built up at the expense of. another, but that each 
portion is essential to the whole. Then the youths of 
the Golden Strand will not ignore the fathers of the 
Sunrise States, nor will the latter frown upon the 
former, but there will be real union; and union of 
hearts and hands affords the greatest human strength, 
San Francisco needs to feel more and more the 
moral and spiritual power of the East; and both 
need to realize that our country is to prosper only 
as it builds upon the Everlasting Rock. Christianity 
is the only true footing for the East and the West. 



62 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Let her sceptre hold sway, and then the gold and 
silver of the land will help build up character by fos- 
tering schools and Christian churches, and thereby 
develop the highest civilization upon the face of the 
earth. 



CHAPTER II. 

ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 

THE nth of October is a propitious day. The 
sun flames out purest light and penetrating heat 
in the Golden City. The ozone of the atmosphere 
is stimulating hearts, and firing minds with earnest 
thoughts. As the sun crosses the noonday line, and 
shadows begin to lengthen, hacks are moving out from 
hotels, and busy feet are pressing stony ways towards 
the wharf where lies the " City of Sydney," the steamer 
about to leave for Japan, It is now a stirring time on 
the wharf; passengers are going on board the ship, 
friends are parting, good-byes are being spoken, tears 
are falling, and hearts are rejoicing at the thought 
of being homeward-bound. 

At two o'clock all are aboard, — officers, passengers, 
and freight. The bell is struck, the engine begins to 
move and puff, the wheel rolls ; the ship turns out care- 
fully from its moorings, and is soon ploughing through 
the bay. On the left sits, upon its hundred hills, the 
city which has surprised the whole world because of 
its rapid development. It finds no parallel in all the 
ages. In a thousand regards it is unlike any other city, 
modern or ancient. Were the old Chaldasans here, 
they would assert "it had been built by the gods," be- 
cause men could not accomplish so much in so brief 



64 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

a period. To the right is the city of Oakland, the 
Western city of schools ; and a little farther east is 
the University town. As the eye takes in the aspect 
of water, hill, plain, and curious things, the voyager 
through sight and insight must be thrilled with admi- 
ration. On approaching the Golden Gate, steam is 
turned off, anchors are dropped, and here we wait for 
the Pacific mails. All kinds of crafts from all ports of 
the earth are floating in the bay. Strong bulwarks are 
guarding the heights. Gulls are cutting circles, and 
ducks are floating on the waves. The rocks on the 
shores are bare, and the turf is seared ; still there is 
fascination in all this which imparts a joy to the waiting. 
Through the Gate the Pacific Ocean is visible. As the 
sun nears the sea, the sky changes from silver to gold, 
and then to amethyst and vermilion. A more beautiful 
picture was never painted. Twilight comes reflecting 
the glow of sky and water, and the vast space above is 
flecked with revolving beacons, and gas-lights flar? and 
electric balls flash from lowland and highland ; this 
seems like a poem from on high, sweeter and deeper 
than any mortal bard ever sung. It is as music from 
the celestial choir. 

At ten o'clock the news from afar has arrived. An- 
chors are once more lifted, fires are renewed, and 
shortly we are going through the Golden Gate ; and lo ! 
the "City of Sydney" is steaming across the greatest 
ocean. Looking upon the glassy surface reflecting the 
firmament above, we feel we can understand why Bal- 
boa, as he sailed from the south along this coast, should 
have christened it the " peaceful water." What a mys- 



ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 6$ 

tery always broods over the restless sea ! No wonder 
the ancient Greek philosopher, when he was thinking 
the best he could, concluded that the earth was flat and 
girdled by an immense river, and that it rested on the 
shoulders of Atlas, while the sky was supported by 
the pillars of Hercules ; neither is it strange that after- 
ward, in the midst of polytheism, the wisest Greeks 
should have assigned the deep waters to the care of 
Oceanus and his three thousand nymphs. But now 
what a joy to feel, since science has helped mind far 
on, the fact that God holds the deep places in the hol- 
low of his hand, making them minister to the needs of 
his children ! 

Now, as the vessel is surveyed somewhat carefully, it 
is found to be a thing of grandeur and power. It is 
three hundred and twenty-five feet long, and forty wide. 
Its ribs and sheathing are of iron, and its masts of lofty 
timbers. Its great engines keep up potent and steady 
strokes. Fifty tons of coal do the furnaces devour each 
day, and therefore ought, in spite of adverse winds and 
waves, to push the steamer on at the rate of three 
hundred and fifty miles a day. Descending into its 
depths, one is quite certain to be surprised at the 
amount of room. It is like going into cellar after cellar, 
containing fifteen hundred tons of iron, cotton, apples, 
butter, cheese, mercantile and mechanical goods. It 
has also eleven thousand tons of coal, enough to take it 
to Hong Kong and back to San Francisco. It is a 
steady-running vessel, with comfortable appointments. 
It is manned by a hundred and nine men. The captain 
is a Norwegian by descent, but educated in our coun- 

5 



66 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

try. He is a compact and sturdy man, in his prime, 
of active temperament and commanding mien. He at- 
tends to his own business, and requires those under him 
to be faithful to duty. All his officers are to be re- 
spected, save two who are altogether too intimate with 
some foolish young women. What a low price some 
put upon themselves, and what a failure they make of 
life ! 

While on this noble ship it is interesting to recall the 
past, and think of the rude floating crafts of the Phoe- 
nicians, the Vikings, and the ancient Chinese. We can 
but query how Vasco da Gama ever crossed the Indian 
Ocean, or Columbus the Atlantic, in unwieldy ships. 
However, it is evident that perfection in methods of 
conveyance has not yet been attained. Who dares say 
that the air will not be successfully navigated within 
the next fifty years? That would not be any more 
marvellous than many things which have been achieved 
the past century. The sculptor having completed a 
beautiful statue is not satisfied, because his cultured 
ideal presents another far more beautiful. So it is in 
this life ; there are always calls ahead, bidding humanity 
go forward. Possibly a hundred years hence the liv- 
ing will refer to our present achievements, as we are 
accustomed to revert to the stage-coach and the 
pannier. 

The passengers on board number twenty-five cabin 
and four hundred and twenty steerage. As to sex, the 
cabin passengers are about equally divided. Among 
them are four clergymen, representing the old and new 
schools of theology; one of them has been a missionary 



ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 6/ 

for years in China, and another is a young man going 
out as a missionary to Japan. Could we analyze the 
motives of those on board, no doubt a great diversity 
would be discovered. Some would be thinking most of 
outward gain, and others of spiritual matters ; some are 
good talkers, and others good listeners ; some are joyous, 
and others sad; one is a naval officer and a decided 
crank, and appears as though he felt that cloth makes 
the man. Many do faithful service to Neptune. 

What a wonder the ocean is as you watch it by day 
and by night ! Could you descend into it ten thousand 
feet and look upward, stranger things would be discov- 
ered than earth or sky has ever revealed. Composed 
as the water is of molecules which are never at rest, 
what commotion would be experienced ! Besides, there 
would not be a thimbleful that would not be disturbed 
by animated life. Monsters and mites would be sport- 
ing according to natural laws. The big fish would be 
eating up the little ones. The survival of the fittest 
would be, perchance, fully demonstrated. Animal ex- 
istence would be found to abound in the sea instead of 
vegetable. Let the monad and Leviathan work away, 
producing the useful and the beautiful; for they are 
sure to leave behind them pearls, corals, and islands. 

The chemist picks the particles of water to pieces, 
and finds them holding in solution silver, gold, and 
salts which are washed into the ocean from the land, as 
the carbonic acid of the rain and snow cut them free. 
How fortunate that every now and then the land be- 
neath the sea is raised up ! By this interchange the 
ground is kept rich and beautiful, that man may live on 



68 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

it and be glad. Then, too, it is interesting to know 
that the ratio of water to the land should always remain 
the same, being three times as much of the former as 
of the latter, in order that the sun may dip up through 
evaporation a sufficiency of water to supply through 
the rainfall the demands of the dry land. The clouds 
are inflated balloons to bear moisture over the earth. 
The ocean is not allowed to stagnate ; accordingly heat 
about the equator is constantly sending currents to the 
north, and the cold of the poles is continually sending 
currents to the south. This, together with the fact that 
the atmosphere is incessantly falling behind the velocity 
of the earth, keeps our atmosphere in perpetual motion. 
It fails not to stimulate all organized life. 

The ocean has been dredged to the depth of four 
miles, and found replete with animated objects. As yet 
we know but little of its treasures. We do not under- 
stand really whence comes its color of blue, green, and 
black. But it is crowded with enchantments and bless- 
ings ; for this reason the largest cities have been built 
upon its shores. Human beings were drawn to it in 
the rudest stages of barbarism, swimming its surface in 
log canoes ; and they have continued to improve the 
boat, as civilization has advanced, till palatial structures 
move with the speed of the wind over its waters, float- 
ing the flags of every nation. If the ancient Greeks and 
Romans felt that special deities presided over the seas, 
we can rejoice that they emphatically express to the 
best modern life the wisdom and almightiness of one 
Ruler. 

The nights upon the ocean differ from those on the 



ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 69 

land, because the heavens appear to bend closer to it ; 
and as the fields of ether are set aglow with twinkling 
orbs, looking upon the water, lo ! what countless worlds 
are in the depths as well as in the heights ! This is 
new experience, to quicken you in inquiries as to the 
multitude of worlds. As the steamer speeds on in the 
calm, it is significantly still as you stand on the deck. 
There is no dash of the wave nor roar of the water. 
This is a sublime solitude. As you gaze at star and 
planet, you can but ask, Are they not peopled with 
sentient beings? Who knows but their inhabitants are 
so constituted as to look upon our globe and behold 
what is transpiring? Possibly some of them are so far 
off that the dwellers have not seen the earth, because it 
has not existed long enough for its reflected light to 
reach them ; or possibly some with senses sufficiently 
acute are looking at it as it was expressing its first life 
in the form of lichens and monads ; or perhaps they 
see it when producing the huge rhododendrons and 
gigantic mastodons ; or, peradventure, they are viewing 
Adam and Eve dressing the Garden of Eden, or Moses 
delivering the Law to the Israelites, or Homer singing 
his Iliad from village to village, or Jesus delivering 
his Sermon on the Mount, or Fulton driving the first 
steamboat up the Hudson, or Morse telegraphing his 
first message, or Dolbear talking with friends far off 
through strands of wire, or Edison experimenting with 
his phonograph. Indeed, "the heavens declare the 
glory of God " on land and sea ! 

We are now within five hundred miles of Japan, No 
striking incident or accident has occurred thus far on 



70 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the voyage, which promises to be the quickest one ever 
made from America to the realm of the Mikado. On 
the Sabbaths there have been reHgious services carried 
on by the cabin passengers ; also two evening lectures 
have been given on foreign travels. Some of the pas- 
sengers have done quite a deal of reading out of books 
furnished by themselves ; for the steamer has no library, 
which is a sad mistake in this age of cheap books. 
This line of steamers can ill afiford to neglect to do what 
is done on all English steamers for the comfort and 
improvement of passengers. However, as it is, some 
have been able to become more familiar with David, 
Paul, Whittier, Wordsworth, Emerson, Carlyle, Scott, 
and other authors. Truly books are the mirrors that 
reflect the images of souls that have passed on into the 
fadeless light. How could we get on without them? 
Faust and Gutenberg did inestimable service to man- 
kind through their discovery of printing. Now those 
long since removed from the earth come back to us 
in thought and sentiment. What delights they proffer, 
and how they lead us forward into higher conditions ! 
As the warrior clings to his arms, so does the scholar 
to his books. They afford him the best things in the 
past, and give him the brightest hopes of the future. So 
none should start on a journey upon land or sea with- 
out taking one book, or more, with him, in order that 
when the spare moments come or when in solitude, he 
may hold converse with those who have struggled and 
triumphed. 

Thursday, October 27, has been a peculiar day. The 
prevailing winds have been from the south. The sun 



ACROSS THE PACIFIC. /I 

by spells has been scorching hot. Toward sunset the 
waves begin to swell considerably, driving most of the 
cabin passengers into Social Hall. The barometer for 
hours has indicated that a storm is pending. The gong 
calls to dinner ; most of the passengers respond. As 
the meal is finished and twilight comes, but few venture 
on deck. At eight o'clock, or a little past, the vessel is 
struck by a furious gale and a tremendous wave. Still, 
no one dreams of any danger. Nevertheless the vessel 
is jerked and strangely twisted about. But there is no 
fear experienced as yet, for all have confidence in the 
steamer and the officers. The storm increases and 
rages furiously. It does seem as though the elements 
were terribly incensed, and having broken their chains, 
were bound to demolish the " City of Sydney." The 
wild, seething seas, hissing with madness, strike the 
vessel on the port side, and then as quick as thought 
on the starboard side, breaking through wood, glass, and 
iron, hurling an immense volume of water through the 
dining-room, cabins, and after-part of the ship. It does 
appear for a while as though Neptune had gained the 
victory. The boom and three of the life-boats are gone. 
Chairs, valises, and trunks are dashed back and forth 
through the ship. The passengers are filled with fear- 
ful surprise ; still most of them are strangely calm ; 
however, a few faint, and others are painfully distressed, 
believing that the greatest of human changes has come. 
All hearts are subdued, and the trusting can .but lift up 
the prayer, " Not my will, but thine, O God, be done ! " 
At this moment a maddening sea strikes the stern of the 
ship, wrenching off" bars of iron, breaking heavy tim- 



72 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

bers, and hurling twenty feet of the ship, including the 
rudder, wheel, and three staterooms into the sea, at the 
same time rolling huge waves through the vessel and 
into the fire-pit, driving the tenders from the furnaces. 
It does now seem as though surely the noble steamer 
must submit and sink into the depths. 

Midnight comes, and the typhoon still hurls venom 
and destruction at the masts, the remaining life-boats, 
and all that is exposed. Officers stand at their posts, 
bravely facing the storm and imminent danger, bound 
to be at the post of duty let what will, come. The 
captain, like the bravest of the old Trojans, faces the 
enemy and, supported by his noble warriors, withstands 
the invasions, wards off the thrusts, and through the long 
hours of the terrible night keeps the foe at bay. As 
the dawn comes, the turbulent waters begin to retreat, 
bringing relaxation to all the crew and passengers, 
who have been strained to the highest tension through 
the long, long night of such feeling, such thinking, 
such doing ! 

With the new day come joy and devoutest thanks- 
givings to Him who holds the seas, in calm and storm, 
in the hollow of his hand, though confusion and waste 
hold sway in hall, cabin, and throughout the ship, — 
yes, and such confusion everywhere, except in mind and 
heart ! for all are ready to accept conditions just as they 
are. It does appear as though there surely has been a 
Divine hand directing and keeping all safe, except one 
sailor who was swept off into the raging sea while try- 
ing to make fast some of the rigging. 

Friday is a stirring day on the ship. Passengers are 



ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 73 

searching for this and for that. Everything is dis- 
placed, so far as they are concerned. In some in- 
stances everything is gone, beaten into pulp or washed 
overboard. Still no one is disposed to complain or 
find fault. 

The food that was cooked and exposed, was de- 
stroyed. So the sealed products are opened, and the 
cooking is extemporized for the breakfast. The gong 
signals the call at the usual hour; and as the captain 
comes in to the table, he looks to the passengers like 
the bravest of heroes. Cheer after cheer goes up in 
behalf of him and his noble supporters who had guided 
the " City of Sydney " so safely through the terrific 
typhoon. 

On Saturday at four o'clock the stanch vessel is 
anchored in the roadstead of Yokohama, having made 
one of the quickest passages across the Pacific Ocean. 
Henceforth we shall be ready to admit that this ocean 
is a vast body of water; that far out from shore it 
is a tremendous solitude, where is seen no manifestation 
of life, save on shipboard and what is expressed at inter- 
vals by circling gulls, flying fish, and Mother Carey's 
tiny chickens. 

What rejoicing is experienced as land is sighted ! 
The mountains, hills, plains, and woodlands are full of 
enchantment. Even the Chinamen break up their gam- 
bling squads, and rushing upon deck throw joss-paper 
into the sea to express their thankfulness that they 
have arrived so far safely towards their native land, 
where they prefer to live and are exceedingly anxious 
to be buried when they die. Ah ! the dry land is 



74 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

made for man to live on ; yet the greatest joy of all is 

to feel, — 

" In the darkness as in the daylight, 
On the water as on the land, 
God's eye is looking on us, 
And beneath us is his hand." 

Anchors have made fast the " City of Sydney " in the 
roadstead of Yohohama. The city fringes the bay and 
overtops the bluffs. Really, it is an imposing town, 
seen in the distance. The bay is thickly set with 
steamers and sailing craft. In the distance to the 
west is Fujiyama, towering twelve thousand feet above 
the sea, crowned with white and flanked with liveliest 
emerald. The slanting sunlight is fashioning beautiful 
pictures on every hand. Close about the steamer are 
dusky faces in curious boats, all ready to take passen- 
gers ashore. As we observe their peculiar features, we 
feel these are kin to the American Indian. The com- 
plexion and physique are strikingly similar. There can 
be but little doubt that they both originally sprang 
from the same stock. Custom officers soon put in 
their appearance, and an American missionary comes 
on board to greet and welcome his fellow-countrymen 
to this singular land which rests upon the bosom of 
the ocean like a fallen crescent All who are to land 
are soon in the small boats, and are shortly rowed 
ashore to the custom-house. For an hour this is a 
stirring and trying place ; but when the ordeal is over, 
it does not seem half so bad as it was imagined to 
be. But here we are on terra firma, westward bound, 
more than half around the globe from Greenwich. 



ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 75 

What if we did drop out of the calendar, as we crossed 
the hundred and eightieth degree of longitude, a day, 
because of an hour lost during each fifteen degrees 
passed over ! It will come all right again on reaching 
London. 



CHAPTER III. 

JAPAN. 

HAVING studied and examined this country some- 
what, we feel ready to admit that it is pecuHar. 
It is composed of thirty-eight hundred and fifty isl- 
ands, extending from the thirty-first to the fiftieth de- 
gree of north latitude, and from one hundred and 
twenty-eight to one hundred and fifty-five degrees of 
east longitude. In surface it exceeds that of New Eng- 
land and the Middle States, having an area of one hun- 
dred and sixty thousand square miles. These islands 
dot the bosom of the Pacific as though but recently 
dropped from some other world. From Asia they are 
distant from fifty to a thousand miles. It seems strange 
that a people scattered over far-separated lands should 
be grouped together as a nation ; that they should have 
a history reaching farther back than ancient Rome or 
Greece. While they have not builded tombs and tem- 
ples to endure, like the dwellers on the Nile, still they 
have held together, as a nation, longer than did the old 
Egyptians or Chaldseans. 

As we examine these islands they remind us of the 
crests of an immense submarine mountain, whose alti- 
tude varies from a hundred to twelve thousand feet. 
Fusiyama rises like a giant warrior above all the other 
towering heights, swaying his sceptre over a realm 




->?-^ 





BRONZE STATUE OF DAI BUTSU, OR BUDDHA. 



JAPAN. jy 

entirely bounded by water. The whole country is 
evidently of volcanic origin. The summits are sharp, 
and the slopes craggy and crimped. Awful and 
deadly eruptions are frequent. The pages of history 
bear frequent accounts of outbursting volcanoes whose 
flames and red-hot lava have caused sweeping destruc- 
tion. There are more than a score of active volcanoes 
now, and more than a hundred solfataras. Scoria ap- 
pears on every hand; hot springs are common. Sel- 
dom does the moon wax and wane without this land 
being shaken by many an earthquake. It is strangely 
diversified by elevations and depressions. It looks as 
though its surface had not been long above the sea; 
evidently it has not been beneath the water since it was 
lifted up, for its rocks are pointed and jagged, its coasts 
are abrupt and shallow, and its numerous streams are 
up and down of a sudden. 

Its climate is variable, as much so as that of our 
Middle States. The summer in the south is subject to 
extreme heat, while in the north the winter is severely 
cold. The highlands are green with grass or white 
with snow. The annual rainfall is from a hundred to 
a hundred and forty inches. It is not uncommon 
to have twenty-five inches of rain in the month of 
September. 

The soil is of a dark color, and generally deep and 
rich ; well adapted in the middle and southern portions 
to producing rice, tea, mulberries, wheat, and tobacco, 
and in the higher latitudes maize, potatoes, beans, bar- 
ley, and oats. 

The forests remind us of New England and the 



78 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Southern States; still the variety of deciduous trees 
does not seem to be so great ; however, there is a large 
number that are used for lumber. Many of the pines 
and cedars are gigantic, resembling those of the Sierra 
Nevadas. The elms grow to a great size, and are very 
graceful in shape. The red and white maples don a 
brilliant foliage in the autumn. The chestnut-trees 
remind one of those in Spain. Osiers and alders are 
common by the streams. The spice-tree and horse- 
chestnut are used for ornamental purposes. Sumachs, 
live-oaks, beeches, and larches are quite common ; and 
in the extreme south bamboos flourish. The shrubs 
and grasses are abundant and diversified, but berries 
are not so plentiful as with us. The native apples and 
pears to an American must seem unfit to eat; the skins 
are like leather, and the flavor is far from pleasant. 
But the persimmons are most delicious. It is said 
that the fruit-trees transferred from our country to 
Japan are doing finely, and yield good and abundant 
fruitage. Thousands of these trees have already been 
transplanted, and thousands more will be within the 
next decade. 

In going through the fields and pastures but few 
cattle and horses are to be seen, and still fewer sheep 
and goats. It is said that the latter will not thrive here ; 
but judging from the grass and climate, it appears as 
though this must be a mistake, and in fact it is being 
proved so at the State farm which has been under the 
charge of an American. The horses and oxen are of 
an inferior order. It is plain that the people have not 
given much attention to stock-raising. Dogs and cats 



JAPAN. 79 

are numerous, but look as though they were degen- 
erating. On the larger islands hares, foxes, deer, wild 
hogs, and black bears are frequently seen. Reptiles, 
if they exist, are sure to keep out of sight, but insects 
and vermin are numerous enough to make up for all 
deficiencies. 

Small birds are scarce, especially singing-birds. The 
scream of the falcon, the whistle of the hawk, and the 
cawing of the crow are to be heard in the city as well 
as in the country. Large flocks of ducks and wild 
geese linger about the shores. Pheasants and wood- 
cocks whir through the thickets. Bees cup their honey, 
ants build their cones, flies swarm, crickets chirp, and 
grasshoppers send forth their sharp notes. 

The common minerals are trachyte, basalt, and feld- 
spar. Porcelain clay is piled into mountains ; varie- 
gated marbles are abundant; coal is found in large 
quantities on some of the islands ; gold, silver, and cop- 
per are mined. Precious agates, carnelians, and jaspers 
abound, and pearls are secured about the coasts. 

In the lakes salmon sport; at seasons the brooks are 
alive with trout, and the seas furnish a large variety of 
fish. As we study these islands we marvel how they 
became inhabited by human beings and by such a 
multiplicity of living objects. 

The Japanese delight in their land, and call it Nip- 
pon, which signifies " beautiful." It is more than beau- 
tiful, — it is picturesque and sublime. Less than one 
tenth of it is cultivated, or can be ; yet it supports thirty- 
nine and a half millions of people. The Japanese are 
quite unlike any other nation. Their origin is lost in 



8o ROUND THE GLOBE. 

tradition. Some of them trace their pedigree to the 
Shu-dynasty, eleven hundred and twenty years before 
the Christian era; and still others trace their ancestry 
back twenty-four hundred years before the coming of 
Christ. It is supposed, however, that they are the off- 
shoots of the Mogul Tartars, and so are the descend- 
ants of the Turanians, as evidenced by their broad 
skulls, high cheek-bones, small black eyes obliquely 
set, and their yellow complexion. Furthermore, their 
monosyllabic words point to these ancient people. 
Some of the more advanced in civilization are comely 
and even handsome. Most of them are nimble and 
smart, being small and slim in stature, — the men 
averaging five and a third feet in height, and the 
women much less. 

Their dress consists of loose garments of silk or cot- 
ton. Men of rank wear petticoat pants and flowing 
robes fastened by a belt, to which are attached one or 
two swords. The common people wear as little as they 
can and protect themselves. The men have the front 
and crown of their heads shaved, leaving tufts on the 
sides and back, but wear no hats except in wet weather. 
The hair of the women is allowed to grow, but is 
tastefully arranged, made glossy with pomatum, and 
adorned with all the gold, silver, and precious stones 
which they wear. No other ladies excel the Japanese 
in neatness, or love of beauty and order. The maidens 
are usually bright, intelligent, modest, and self-reliant; 
still, when they marry, their husbands or their religion 
force them to paint their teeth black and their lips red, 
and to extract their eyebrows, that henceforth they may 



JAPAN. 8 1 

not appear beautiful to men. No doubt the husbands 
cherish them for what they have been. 

In the home there is more or less of patriarchal rule. 
The husband is the supreme head. The wife is his ser- 
vant, and he must be obeyed. The father commands, 
and the children submit without any questioning or 
hesitancy. Even if he bids his daughter go to the yo- 
shewara, she goes, for she feels she must, though it is 
usually against her inclination. So the father often 
sells the character of his daughter for a few months or 
for years for the sake of mammon. This sinful prac- 
tice is allowed without any scandal. 

The original inhabitants, known as Ainos, are fast 
disappearing before the trend of civilization. Not more 
than twenty thousand remain, and most of these occupy 
the north part of Hondo and Yeddo. They have no 
alphabet, no writing, and no numbers above one thou- 
sand. They certainly do not excel the redmen of our 
far West. Their tones of voice are rough, and their 
habits uncouth. If the more advanced Japanese sprang 
from such stock, they must have started on the upward 
track a long time ago and passed through astonishing 
evolutions ; for the better classes are quick to perceive, 
graceful in manners, and polite in social life. If they 
do sit on their feet when resting, they do not appear 
awkward. They have been born to this posture. Then, 
too, their floors are usually clean, being covered with 
straw or paper mats, so stuffed as to be two or three 
inches thick. On these they sit in the day and lie at 
night. Their bed consists of a quilt and a pillow, which 
are removed in the morning, and placed in a closet. 

6 



S2 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

The size of the room is estimated from the number of 
mats on the floor. These mats are about six feet long 
and three wide. A fair- sized room contains four of 
them, and a large one six or more. The men use soft 
pillows, but the women prefer blocks of wood rounded 
out so as to fit the neck, keeping the head from the 
flooring and mat, thus saving them much time and 
trouble in performing their toilet. 

The houses are usually constructed of wood, and the 
roofs thatched with straw. They have a ground floor, 
open to the street, with a low top-story. In the cities, 
where some of the buildings are made of brick, they are 
covered with tiling. 

A few of the modern cities are quite attractive and 
interesting, but the old are quaint and ugly; the streets 
are narrow and the houses huddled together, appearing 
from a distance more like a tented field than a perma- 
nent settlement. 

The people dwell mostly in cities and villages. They 
are social, witty, and mirthful. Their sports and plays 
are simple and harmless. They are fond of the beau- 
tiful, but their moral standard inclines somewhat from 
the perpendicular. Every nation is likely to be made 
up of a diversity of characters ; certainly this is true 
of Japan. The tourist here is being constantly over- 
taken by surprises. Beauty and ugliness, astuteness 
and dulness, honesty and fraud, alertness and slowness, 
daring and cowardice, care and negligence, attractive- 
ness and repugnance, ambition and indifference, follow 
one another in quick succession. Experiences in the 
cities and country will prove this true. 



JAPAN. 83 

Yokohama is the seaport of Japan at present. This 
is one of the seven cities to which foreigners are ad- 
mitted without any special permit. But if they desire 
to go beyond the Hmits of twenty-five miles from these 
cities, it can be done only by a specific grant from 
State authorities. It is a serious question among the 
Japanese, whether or not it is for their interest to 
allow strangers to travel in their country, and particu- 
larly to settle in it. So, in certain localities, tourists do 
not receive any public ovations, but are met with expres- 
sions of dread and, possibly, of scorn. Of course this is 
the outcome of ignorance and religious superstition. 

Yokohama occupies a favorable site for a commer- 
cial city. Its main street, public buildings, and trading- 
houses bend close around Yeddo Bay. The front of 
the town is the newest, wearing an aspect of advanced 
civilization. Its hotels, club-houses, photographic gal- 
leries, and consulate buildings are first-class. In 1853 
there was only a little village here of an inferior order, 
known as Kanagawa. But as Commodore Perry's fleet 
steamed into the harbor in 1854, making this a free 
port, opening up trade between this country and the 
United States, and with other countries as well, new 
life expressed itself at once. The squatter village soon 
gave place to structures of stone and brick. Now the 
streets are paved and curbed, lighted with gas and 
lined with telegraphic wires. Previous to the incom- 
ing of Perry's fleet, a craft driven by steam had never 
been seen in this harbor. Now nearly all the latest 
improvements of the age are in this city. The Bund, 
or lowest portion, stands on a plain backed by bluffs. 



84 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

which are occupied by villas, hospitals, and schools. 
Roads zigzag from the levels to these heights which 
overlook the bay and the surrounding country. Every 
commercial nation is represented in this city in the way 
of banking and trade. Much foreign capital is invested 
here. No doubt the rapid growth of the place is 
largely due to this fact. As we traverse the streets we 
see fine stores filled with wares, silks, curios ; and fire- 
proof godowns from whose windows issues the aroma 
of the new crop of tea. It is reported that the foreign 
population of Yokohama must be more than two thou- 
sand; so it is really a cosmopolitan city, ranking as 
third in the Empire. The most attractive residences 
are on the bluffs, and are owned by Americans, English- 
men, Germans, and French. Many of these dwellings 
are embowered in azaleas, camellias, magnolias, and 
flowering shrubs in this November time. The leading 
culture, thought, and manners are English; the press, 
the bar, and the church are monopolized by men from 
the West. 

Now for an outing to one of the old capitals of the 
realm. The day dawns fair, and the rising sun spreads 
charming warmth far and wide. One must feel, as he 
looks upon the smooth bay whitened with sails from 
many climes, and then upon the new city and its envi- 
ronments, that here is a picture which can but delight 
the most fastidious eye. At half-past seven the cab 
of this country is at the door of the Grand Hotel. Ah, 
this is a funny and unique vehicle ! Why, it is an 
enlarged baby-carriage, or a greatly diminished old- 
fashioned chaise ! In the thills is a straight, bare- 



JAPAN. 85 

headed, slim-legged Japanese youth, clothed in a tight 
frock whose skirt ends some distance above the knees, 
and whose sleeves are as roomy as any worn in Queen 
Elizabeth's time. Well, there is not only one of these 
jinrikishas ready to take you, but more than forty of 
them within a stone's-throw. But the fares are fixed by 
law; so there is no bidding as to rates, each must take 
its turn. However, there are different classes, and so 
different prices according to the finish. It is evident, as 
you examine the painting of some of them, that there 
are artists in these lands who know just how to paint 
human forms and faces, to adorn with lacquer-work, and 
to put the finest gloss upon wood and paper. You are 
no sooner seated in your novel chaise than away you 
go with the speed of the fleetest horse. These jinriki- 
sha-men aim to take you through the most showy 
streets. As you rush on you catch glimpses of gay 
windows, blooming gardens, business-houses, diminu- 
tive dwellings, and bon-bon stalls. It is surprising to 
see how the jinrikishas are dodging about in all direc- 
tions. In a short space of time you are whirled a mile 
away to the depot. A host of these curious herdics are 
here. These would-be horses are jolly fellows. While 
they are waiting, they are joking and laughing. The 
cabmen of Ireland are surely not more jocose. 

Here at the station order and politeness prevail. If 
a Japanese were to rob you, no doubt he would accost 
you first with a bow. Soon seated in the car, which 
is of English style, the train moves westward. The 
old and new town is soon left behind. The native pas- 
sengers act as though they had not yet become fairly 



86 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

accustomed to this mode of travelling. Men, women, 
and children are bareheaded, except those of the higher 
classes, who have compartments by themselves. These 
have adopted the Western dress. Still the coats and 
pants look as though they had got upon the wrong 
person, for they are either too large or too small. It 
is no trifling matter for a race to change its habits 
of dress. 

The suburbs of the city consist of little shops and 
houses, whose fronts are mostly open to the streets 
when the weather is fair, affording the opportunity to 
inspect all within. Most of these structures are made 
of wood ; so it is throughout the country. Therefore 
it is not strange that in the dry seasons destructive 
fires should prevail. 

Now we are in the open country, which is full of ups 
and downs, indentations and projections. On the one 
hand, gulls are sailing round and round, and on the 
other the inevitable crows are flapping through the air 
and cawing just as they do in America. The grass is 
as green in this November as in the valley of the Mo- 
hawk in June. As the road strikes inland, there is 
opened up a succession of irregularities. The bottom- 
lands are under a high state of cultivation. The soil is 
black and productive. The rice-fields in places extend 
as far as the eye can reach. These are ready for har- 
vest, and the reapers here and there are thick with their 
sickles. The heads of the rice are drooping, as though 
heavy with grain. On terraces above the reach of run- 
ning water are patches of sweet potatoes, and beds of 
onions, carrots, and radishes. Still higher up are mul- 



JAPAN. 87 

berry orchards and bamboo groves ; beyond and above 
these are clusters of pine, beech, maple, chestnut, su- 
mach, and live-oak. The small villages by the way are 
unique with their thatched roofs and grassy crowns. 
The men in the fields have on short frocks, and in some 
instances hats that resemble inverted wooden bowls. 
Their extremities are nude, but the women at work with 
the men have on a skirt and frock, with wooden or straw 
sandals on their feet. They wear no bonnets, but their 
black hair glistens, being oiled and wadded on the back 
of the head. INIost of the mothers on the street and in 
the field have babies banded to their backs. Few are 
the houses passed where no children are seen. 

Halting at a station for half an hour, just take a walk 
along the principal street and see the sights. In one 
house you behold two young women of the better class, 
who are busily engaged in dressing each other's hair. 
One is seated in front of the mirror, and the other is at 
her rear with comb in hand, and close by a box of 
knick-knacks for oiling, pasting, and bathing, and paints 
for the face. They both keep looking into the glass, ap- 
parently with greatest admiration. At length the comb 
is laid aside for a little while, and very small brass-bowl 
pipes are lit and a few whiffs are taken in turn, and then 
they resume the hair-dressing. They have silk gar- 
ments over their shoulders ; one is sitting flat on the 
floor, and the other is resting on her knees. The floor 
is polished, and partly covered with straw matting. 
The furniture seen consists simply of a glass, a toilet- 
box, and a small table. 

Just now comes along a two-wheeled cart loaded with 



88 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

rice in bags made from straw, holding two bushels each. 
It would seem that only the Japanese can make such 
sacks. A woman is in the thills, and a man and woman 
are pushing behind. The cart is loaded with thirty 
bags, making a heavy burden for the three who have 
drawn it five miles. 

But here comes another team, consisting of a driver, a 
bullock, and a cart loaded with rice ready for the 
market. The man has on a red cap, a blue frock, tight 
pants, and straw sandals. As you approach him, you 
see that he walks on the opposite side from the team- 
sters in this country, holding a slack line attached to a 
ring in the nose of his animal. No whip is in sight. 
The bullock is not large, but resembles the American 
ox in build and color. He seems docile and willing to 
labor. He has on a curious harness with a collar bear- 
ing upon the top of his neck, to which are fastened the 
thills of the cart. The wheels are large, with huge fel- 
lies mortised together, so as to require no band of iron, 
and each wheel has twenty-two spokes set in a mon- 
strous hub. The body is made of two six-inch timbers, 
some fourteen feet long, tapering from the middle, 
being two and a half feet apart. It is painted with 
variegated colors. The driver wears a mien of satis- 
faction, and the creature appears as though he fared 
well. Taking the whole into account, you are forced 
to admit that the entire turn-out is novel and pictur- 
esque indeed ! 

A little farther on and you come to another home in 
which a man is asleep on the common bed (which is the 
floor), with his head resting on a pillow of wood. One 



JAPAN. 89 

hand has fallen upon the sidewalk, and near him sits a 
woman embroidering the edge of a red silk shawl. In 
another part of the room is a young lady with a pipe 
in hand and a bottle of sake by her side. This is un- 
questionably one of the aristocratic homes. 

As you move on, you meet an old woman with a 
bundle of brooms on her shoulder, a package of fans in 
her hand, and about forty brushes on her back. She is 
a pedler, with straw sandals on her feet and a blue 
cotton frock upon her body. 

Here you happen upon a black-smithy which is quite 
in the road. The smith is hammering away at the anvil 
while sitting on the ground. As he inserts his rod in 
the fire he blows up the flame through a reed. His 
nearest neighbor is a shoemaker, whose shop is the 
ditch, and whose stock is not leather but lumber. He 
is making clog sandals, and selling them for five sens, or 
four cents a pair. The clog is attached to the foot by 
a thong of straw passing between the toes and over the 
front of the foot. A Yankee would need to practise a 
long while to keep one on his foot while walking. 

About this time the road has become filled with 
mothers and older sisters, with babies slung to their 
backs, who are anxious to see the stranger. All are 
very courteous. 

Now the signal sounds, warning the passengers that 
the train is to go on. Quickly all are aboard, and in 
an hour Fugisawa is reached. Here you leave the rail 
for a five miles' ride in a jinrikisha. A bargain is soon 
struck for a carriage and two barelegged and bare- 
footed men to speed it on. They prove themselves 



90 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

gallant fellows, whirling the pygmy chaise through the 
sand, over the pavements, and through the mud, as fast 
as the fleetest horses would run. The road is narrow, 
and the road-bed is not more than five feet wide. The 
wheels of the jinrikisha are only some three feet apart. 
The way is through a broken country. The flats are 
waving with ripened rice, and the gardens are burdened 
with a variety of vegetables. At length we are ascend- 
ing a long hill. The drawer and pusher breathe hard 
and walk fast. By the roadside are blue gentians, 
yellow and purple asters, periwinkles, white and yellow 
chrysanthemums, ferns, violets, tea-blossoms, cotton- 
balls, bushes, shrubs, and trees, resembling those in 
New England. As the summit is gained, what a pros- 
pect over land and sea ! Fusiyama sways his sceptre 
over all the region. He presents a magnificent appear- 
ance, towering aloft more than twelve thousand feet, 
skirted with liveliest green and crowned with snow. 
How monotonous and impoverished the earth would 
be without mountains ! It seems singular that no cat- 
tle or sheep should be feeding and browsing in these 
pastures about us. It is true they are not walled or 
fenced off, but the feed is most inviting. But why 
should they raise stock? The Japanese have no fond- 
ness for milk, butter, cheese, beef, or mutton. It is 
true they would like the wool to weave into fabrics, 
but they fear the sheep could not endure this climate; 
still the State farm is proving this to be a mistake. 

Having reached the highest part of the road, you 
descend a long way. The ledges are now cropping 
out. Trachyte and feldspathic rock are plentiful. Oc- 



JAPAN. 91 

casionally are to be seen caverns which have been used 
for religious purposes, as is manifest by the carvings. 
All of a sudden the jinrikisha boys cry out, " Dai 
Butsu ! " and sure enough, among the evergreens and 
lofty trees, in a lovely cave, towers the great brazen 
image. Dismounting, you pass through a gate and 
along a pathway over a lawn to the sitting statue of 
Buddha, who lived six centuries before the Christian 
era and is now worshipped by one third of the human 
race. The face wears a placid expression, as though 
in the land of rest. It is forty-nine feet high, ninety- 
seven feet in circumference round the chest, and the 
measurement round the thumb is three feet. The eye- 
balls are said to be of pure gold. Passing within and 
climbing some steps, behold ! image upon image of 
diminutive deities, in glass cases and behind gilded 
curtains. These are pointed out by a priest as repre- 
senting divine personages. In fact, they are awful-look- 
ing representations. It can but make the Christian 
heart sad to see priests bowing to such dumb and 
distasteful images. Bits of paper are inscribed with 
names of Buddhists who have done honor to Dai Butsu 
or some of the minor gods. 

The huge image is constructed out of sheets of 
bronze, soldered together in such a way as to present 
most finished workmanship. It is reported to have 
been made in 1250; so it is more than six hundred 
years old, and is a wonderful piece of mechanism. It 
was formerly covered by a large temple, which was 
destroyed by fire; and tradition asserts that it has 
been disturbed by inundations from the sea, which at 



92 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

present is two miles distant. Measures are being taken 
to cover the statue with another temple. 

The scenery around this place is wild, resembling the 
spots and groves where the Grecian gods dwelt and 
their oracles were revealed. As you study the effects 
of Buddhism in Japan, you can but conclude that it is 
a kind of polytheism, which, perchance, had its origin 
on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. 
Buddhism was introduced to this land through Shinto- 
ism from Asia. The latter came from the West to the 
East six hundred years before Christ, and contained but 
little in its philosophy that was strictly religious; at 
least, after it had been in the country a few centuries, it 
was used quite exclusively for political ends. Under its 
regime the people became worse instead of better. 

Now, Buddhism in Asia was a pure atheistic humani- 
tarianism, with a good code of moral philosophy. It 
taught that the souls of men had lived previous to be- 
ing born into this life, and that all their ailments and 
sufferings were owing to having sinned before having 
had anything to do with mortal things. It declared 
that the soul had been developed through endless 
evolutions of births, pains, and deaths, and that after 
passing from this world it would journey through dif- 
ferent stages, and if devoted wholly to good works, 
would finally become absorbed into Buddha ; otherwise 
it would wander on, sinning and being tortured through 
countless ages, until it would be absorbed into nothing- 
ness. In either case it is virtually annihilation, or at 
least the losing of soul identity. 

Now, this religion was transferred from China or 



JAPAN. 93 

Corea by a company of devout soothsayers, astrologers, 
and mathematicians. It would appear that Shintoism 
was ready for an engraftment, and so with open arms 
welcomed these incomers. Temples were now built, 
whereas before the best that Shintoism had done was 
to worship in the grove or pray upon the hilltop. The 
new religion through its display captured hearts. It 
was not very long before the rulers of the people be- 
gan to realize that it would be for their advantage to 
avail themselves of its influence, and accordingly they 
adopted it. Monasteries now sprang up throughout 
the land. Even the religious enthusiasm was kindled 
to such a pitch that the nobility left their high sta- 
tions to become monks in behalf of this new religion. 
In the thirteenth century the Japanese Luther, Nichi- 
ren, stepped upon the Buddhist stage. He was a 
scholar, and thoroughly imbued with this new faith. 
He went about preaching and displaying the doc- 
trines of Buddha as he understood them. He melted 
the hearts of the people, and set them to work, mul- 
tiplying shrines and temples. Great religions were 
established, and Buddhism flared over the land as 
never hitherto, and protesting Shintoists were soon 
brought to its acceptance and devoted themselves to 
its spread. Candles now flamed and incense smoked 
in hosts of temples. Pilgrimages were instituted to 
sacred shrines. Buddha had become the god of Japan. 
Shinto-Buddhists were placed in the highest posi- 
tions, and their priests were held in highest repute. 
Immense wealth was invested in temples and pago- 
das. Dead mikados and daimios were deified. Their 



94 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

tombs became Meccas to which the people were wont 
to flock. 

In the course of epochs Buddhism became thor- 
oughly Japanized, and so would deify 'and worship only 
Japanese heroes. This selfish narrowness was adverse 
to further progress, and served to cool the religious 
flame ; so that at length only defeated soldiers, poverty- 
stricken orphans, and conscience-smitten murderers 
flocked to its wasting altars. Hence for the last two 
hundred years Buddhism as expressed in Japan has 
been on the wane. It is not the religion for the masses. 
Though there are two hundred and ninety-six thou- 
sand nine hundred Buddhist and ninety-seven Shintoist 
temples in the Empire, there are less than a hundred 
thousand priests connected with them. The leading 
men as a rule do not go near the places of worship un- 
less they have been disappointed in business, or are 
driving some sharp scheme which they fear is beyond 
their strength, and then they superstitiously enter the 
temples, hoping to gain some superior power and thus 
realize success. The women are more devout and 
more ignorant. They have been degraded through 
polygamy and brothel experience in their girlhood. 
Many heads of families, dwelling under the shadow of 
temples, are living upon the revenue accruing from the 
misuse of their own daughters. Concubinage is pop- 
ular here, in the hovel and in the palace. It is stated 
that the priests are largely committed to it. This 
being true, let them read their Sutras and pray as 
much as they will, their cause is bound to fail. " The 
pure in heart " alone can see the true God, and be led 



JAPAN. 95 

into more light. Buddhism, after centuries of trial in 
Japan, is' proving a sad failure. 

Bidding adieu to the image of Dai Butsu, and seated 
again in the jinrikisha, we hie away to the village of 
Kamakura, less than a mile distant. By the way 
you can spy caverns where rest the ashes of daimios 
and famous characters. Along the road men and 
women are seen digging sweet potatoes and harvesting 
garden-sauce. The village is soon reached. Certainly 
it does not now wear the appearance of beauty and 
grandeur. If it were once the capital of the Empire, 
there are few indications of it now. It is true, the grand 
old trees scattered about are things of interest. But 
the special object bringing us here is the temple of 
Hachiman, one of the most noted deified gods of Japan. 
There it is in the distance. That is an imposing street 
leading to it. At the entrance, as usual, stands the to- 
rii, signifying " bird-rest." Originally these were made 
of two upright trunks of trees, with a horizontal trunk 
placed upon them projecting beyond the standards. 
Under the heavy cross-piece is a slender rod attached, 
looking as though it might be a perch for birds. Tra- 
dition informs us that the first object of the torii was to 
afford large and small birds a resting-place close by the 
temple, to usher in the day with song and thanksgiving 
to the loving Buddha. 

Attempts have been made to render this structure 
for orisons especially attractive in the way of carving 
and painting. 

Moving on some rods, and ascending sixty-three 
wide broad stone steps, you come to a beautiful 



96 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

wooden chapel, painted with vermilion and gilded 
with gold. A few more steps and the temple is 
entered. This, like other temples in Japan, has no 
auditorium for the assemblage of the people. The in- 
side is intended for the use of the priests, who spend 
their time in prayer and worship before different im- 
ages of deified men. But three bonzes, or priests, are 
to be seen. One is in devout service, it would seem, 
judging from the expression of his countenance and the 
counting of his beads. The other two are walking 
about and staring at vacuity; however, as you approach 
the principal altar, one of them motions to you to come 
this way to a sort of cloister, where he takes out a rusty 
sword and expatiates about lyeyasu, who was their 
greatest warrior, and now is one of their most honored 
gods. He says this was his sword, and M'ith it he won 
the grandest victories. He has drawings of it on paper 
which he is anxious to sell. But the bonze is by far 
the greatest curiosity. His head is shaven close. His 
confinement indoors has greatly whitened his com- 
plexion. He is clothed with a loose cotton frock, baggy 
trousers, and straw sandals. He does not exhibit signs 
of being fairly intellectual nor highly spiritual. The 
bonze at prayer is of a higher order, and is clad in silk 
garments. He is beardless and hairless, as is the fash- 
ion among the priests. They present no appearance of 
high living or strong drink ; rice is their common food, 
which is furnished them by worshippers as they come 
to the altars for blessings. On certain festive oc- 
casions they are abundantly supplied. But few of 
them ever eat any fish. Do you inquire if these 



JAPAN. 97 

bonzes ever preach? Yes, on certain occasions; their 
discoursing is mainly practical and brief, enforcing du- 
ties of husbands to their wives, charging them often 
to be generous in bestowing pin-money if they would 
have peace in their homes. 

As we examine the temple we are reminded of the 
Roman Catholic Church, — images, altars, lights, pic- 
tures, incense, vestments, and beads. We can scarcely 
guess whether the Buddhists have borrowed from the 
Romans, or whether it is the reverse. It becomes 
plain that the bonzes are more given to superstition 
than the Roman priests. 

The temples here are after one style, and generally 
made of wood, one story high, with a tent-roof pro- 
jecting several feet over the walls, and the whole 
painted red. The style is surely Japanese. So it is: 
every religion has its own peculiar expressions. 

The trees around the temple are venerable and grand. 
Some of the pines are two and three centuries old, and 
yet show no signs of decay. It is not so with the re- 
ligion of the land: it bears marks of decline in its old 
age. 

Thus it is with Kamakura. There are still indica- 
tions that when it was the capital of the Empire, it was 
a charming city. Though Nature has done enough to 
render it beautiful, man in these late years has failed to 
do his part; so, gray and wasting, it is falling into the 
dust. 

How true it is that people living among old ruins 
and in decaying cities come to dote upon the past and 
distrust the future. They appear to feel that what has 

7 



98 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

been will never be again. Were it not for the pilgrim- 
ages to this old city, it would be forlorn indeed. But 
thousands hasten hither every year to bow before the 
great image of Dai Butsu, and worship in the temple 
of the deified Hachiman. 

As we come to a small stream in the suburbs of the 
city, we observe a cotton handkerchief suspended by 
the corners on four bamboo rods, rising two feet above 
the ground. The cloth sags in the centre, with a cocoa- 
nut cup lying on it. Small bouquets have been placed 
in the bamboos at the corners. On one side is an 
erect slab, bearing in Sanskrit characters the name of a 
deceased mother, and an earnest prayer in her behalf. 
While waiting and wondering at the singular arrange- 
ment, a friend of the departed comes along ; taking the 
cup, he fills it with water, and turns it upon the hand- 
kerchief, and then, in the attitude of prayer, fingering 
his rosary, waits for the water to drain through the cloth. 
This is done in a tender manner; and as we learn its full 
significance, we must admit it is touchingly beautiful. 
For in this way it is believed that the suffering of the 
translated is being relieved ; and whenever the passers- 
by shall have poured water sufficient (only a cupful at 
a time) to break the cloth away so that the water will 
fall through at once, then the departed no longer is 
troubled, but raised into a condition of rest. If this is 
superstitious service, it must tend to improve the hearts 
of all who observe it in sincerity. It is well for the 
living to cherish memories of the dead, so thinking and 
so acting as always to bless the friends on earth and in 
heaven. 



JAPAN. 99 

The slanting sunlight implies that the day is fast 
passing, and we are forty miles by rail from Yoko 
hama. But the boy-colts are ready for a race. So, 
seated in the easy carriage, away we fly up hill and 
down hill, and across the plain, and in one hour we 
are at the station, in good season for the train. 

From ancient days this picturesque land has been 
peopled. It would seem that much of the heroic and 
poetical enters into its life. How could it well be other- 
wise with a people reared in a land so subject to uplift- 
ing and down-letting? Not a moon waxes and wanes 
without volcanic disturbance. This would tend to breed 
romance and superstition where ignorance prevailed ; but 
as darkness should be dispelled by light, higher condi- 
tions of mind would be developed. Thus it was that 
lords sprang up here, and mighty chiefs came to rule 
the land. Castles were set on loftiest cliffs, and hugest 
walls were built that feudal chiefs might dwell in security. 
Verily, shoguns did come to possess the whole country ! 
Serfs or vassals, though numerous, must submit to the 
powers that be. This called forth, at length, orders of 
nobility. Shoguns, daimios, and samurai were grades 
down to peasants, carpenters, and merchants. As years 
rolled on, cities sprang up, with strongest fortresses 
within, that shoguns might be surrounded by daimios, 
and daimios be guarded by samurai at the outposts. 
This system naturally bred contentions. Clans became 
arrayed against clans; fiercest strifes raged, and "the 
survival of the fittest " bore off the palm ; accordingly 
this one became the great shogun, and must dwell 
in the chief city as the head of all the others. So 



100 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Kamakura, then Nara, then Kioto, and finally Yeddo, or 
Tokio, became the capital. 

Tokio is a city of more than a million inhabitants. 
The site on which it stands is elliptical, being nine miles 
long and five wide. Formerly it was a moat, or morass, 
rather than solid earth. But lyeyasu, the Napoleon 
of Japan, said, " It must become the capital of my 
country." So he caused an immense fort to be con- 
structed near the centre. It is a tremendous pile of 
granite blocks. Some of them are forty feet long, eight 
feet wide, and four feet thick. It has stood for three 
centuries, and is likely to stand for ages. In style it 
surpasses the castles on the Rhine or on the Danube 
River. Around this bulwark runs a deep moat, forty 
feet wide, supplied with water conveyed nine miles in 
an aqueduct. Majestic pines and cedars wave their 
fronded tops above the towering walls. Around this 
structure Yeddo sprang up. The feudal lord dwelt 
within the stronghold, guarded by daimios and defended 
at the portcullis by the samurai, while his vassals dwelt 
in bamboo tents on the plain. 

But the world moved, and so did Japan and its 
capital. lyeyasu was more for peace than for war, 
more devoted to the masses than to himself. He was a 
Shinto-Buddhist. Still, he was better than his religion ; 
for that no longer said to the people, " Think and do," 
but " Cling to the past and remain as you are." Really 
the religious tree in this land had already fallen, and 
the priests were clinging to the dead roots ; and so they 
have clung ever since. It appears as though their god 
is dead, and they have not so much now as a live devil. 



JAPAN. lOI 

Go now upon the hill above the Shiba temple, and 
view the city. As you inspect it, you are reminded of 
an extensive camping-ground thickly set with tents. 
No wonder it is subject to extensive fires, for the houses 
are little better than tinder-boxes, being made of wood 
and crowded together. Its main street is nine miles in 
length, and lined with shops and stores. It contains all 
classes, from those living in the hovel to the Mikado in 
the palace, from the ignoramus begging in the street 
to the distinguished scholar in the University, from the 
coolie gathering up the filth in the street to the jeweller 
setting the finest stone. 

As Yeddo grew in importance, it became Tokio in 
name, adopting as fast as possible the improvements of 
the West. To-day you find in it the railroad, the tram- 
way, the telegraph, the telephone, and electric lights. 

Its present Mikado is no longer a divine recluse, too 
holy to have the eyes of his subjects fall upon him, as 
was formerly the case. Really, he has come down from 
the company of the gods to deal with embodied entities. 
So but yesterday, on his thirty-seventh birthday, he met 
hosts of his subjects on the public parade-grounds of 
the city, and was gazed upon by upwards of a hundred 
thousand of his admiring subjects. Let us visit this 
scene. 

The day comes in cool and bright. Before the sun is 
up crowds are moving towards the place of review. 
We fall in with this current of men, women, and chil- 
dren. Most are walking with bare feet; some are 
thudding along with clog-shoes, and others with straw 
sandals ; many are riding in jinrikishas ; and a few are 



102 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

on horseback and in European carriages. Of course all 
are tending in the same direction. It is surprising how 
quietly the multitudes move on. The rich and poor are 
mingling freely together. At length we are passing the 
Fortress and the Mikado's palace. Here a regiment of 
soldiers march into the street. They are good-looking 
young men, from twenty to thirty-five years of age. 
They must be picked men, for they are taller and 
heavier than the average Japanese. They are dressed, 
after the manner of the European soldier, in blue 
broadcloth striped with several colors. Their caps are 
of the same material, mounted with plumes. The 
officers are good-looking; but the horses of the cavalry 
are small and homely. The bands, as they play, do not 
appear to inspire very much enthusiasm. 

Arriving at the campus about eight o'clock, we find 
the legions here. Ten thousand soldiers are on parade. 
The foreign officers and dignitaries are guided to the 
Mikado's tent. All are expectant, and anxious to se- 
cure the best place to see. Gentlemen and ladies from 
abroad are privileged characters, and so they are al- 
lowed to stand near the tent of the Mikado, where they 
will be able to witness the sights. At nine o'clock the 
Mikado rides upon the grounds in a carriage drawn by 
two roan horses. It is not an expensive outfit for an 
Emperor. Those who have seen the Mikado and those 
who have not, are bound to get a sight of him. Greatest 
deference and honor are paid him as he rides past the 
people. As he reaches his tent, he alights and soon 
mounts his horse ready to inspect his brave men. He 
is above the average size, straight and comely, not 



JAPAN. 103 

handsome but having an interesting face. His hair is 
black and his beard short. When standing, or sitting 
on his horse, he presents a fine figure and presence. 
He takes great pride in his army. As the soldiers 
stand in line, he rides close in front, inspecting and 
admiring them. After this is over, he takes a stand 
in his carriage, and the soldiers pass in review in front 
of him, saluting and expressing reverence for their 
Mikado. 

The manoeuvres of the soldiers show that they have 
been under good training and discipline. In times of 
peace the army consists of one hundred thousand in- 
fantry, twenty thousand cavalry, and a small navy. 
This is an inferior army, compared to those of France 
and Germany. Still, it has proved itself equal to emer- 
gencies and the demands of the nation. This was 
signally illustrated in the difficulty of Japan with China 
about Formosa. Japan felt she had justice on her side. 
Looking upon her daring and heroic people, she said, 
" The four hundred millions of Chinese shall not intimi- 
date me and keep me from doing my duty." So she 
sent her naval forces to China demanding justice, de- 
claring if this were not granted she would fire upon 
them. The great nation quailed, giving Japan all she 
asked. This was but the repetition of the ten thousand 
Greeks on the plain of Marathon conquering the more 
than a hundred thousand Persians. Brains are mightier 
than the sword. 

One fact we should keep in mind, that the govern- 
ment of Japan has always been hereditary and its ruler 
venerated ; hence, while many sovereigns have been of 



104 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

little account, the line of descent of one hundred and 
twenty-six rulers has been unbroken. 

The Mikado has been high-priest as well as emperor, 
and therefore has been spoken of as the spiritual head 
of the nation. For this reason he has been clothed with 
mystery and seclusion which have been held sacred for 
more than a thousand years. But the present Imperial 
Ruler has broken away from the chains of the past, and 
seems bound to render his nation honorable among the 
enlightened realms of the earth. The daimios have 
been induced to give up their rich estates for the bene- 
fit of the people, and the present Mikado has promul- 
gated from the throne a Constitution establishing a 
House of Peers, — the members of which are to be 
partly hereditary, partly elective, and partly nominated 
by the Mikado, — and a House of Commons consisting 
of three hundred members. The right of suffrage is 
given to all men, of the age of twenty-five years and 
over, who pay taxes to the amount of twenty-five dol- 
lars. The parliament is to possess legislative functions 
and the control of the treasury. Judges cannot be re- 
moved except by special legislation. Liberty of reli- 
gion, freedom of speech, and right of public meetings 
are being established. All this speaks well for Mutsu 
Hito. He is really writing his name high on the scroll 
of honor. The Empress is proving herself a noble 
character, doing much to elevate her sex. It is ex- 
pected that the new Constitution will come into full 
power within a year. 

Already, under the Mikado's rule, money has been 
liberally expended in sending Japanese youths to be 



JAPAN. 105 

educated in foreign lands ; public schools and scientific 
and benevolent institutions have been founded upon the 
models of Western nations ; a free press is at work ; a 
new postal system has been put into operation ; the old 
Japanese calendar has been superseded by the most im- 
proved form; the Mikado has brought into the employ- 
ment of the Government men of culture and diplomacy ; 
a gold and silver currency has been introduced, and a 
system of railroads and telegraphs organized. All this 
has been achieved largely under the rule of the present 
Emperor, in little more than a score of years. Is it not 
surprising that such a change should have come to a 
people far off upon the bosom of the Pacific, indepen- 
dently of their nearest neighbors, China and India? 

It is right that the Japanese should celebrate the 
birthday of their present Mikado, and honor him for 
his noble achievements. How can Christian hearts all 
over the world refrain from expressing honor to him 
who has been instrumental in causing the signboards 
proscribing Christianity in Tokio and other cities to be 
pulled down, and glad welcome to be given to Chris- 
tian scholars and preachers who have come to their 
country to make the people wiser and better ! 

In this vast gathering of the people we see no rioting, 
wantonness, or intemperance. The day is beautiful, 
the occasion grand, and the result must be helpful 
and encouraging. If Mutsu Hito receives annually 
$1,748,800 from the Government, he spends the larger 
share of it for the good of his subjects. 

The stranger in Tokio is often made to feel that he is 
in some fairy realm ; all of a sudden such a transposition 



I06 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

comes that he can half imagine he is in pandemonium. 
At best it is a changeable town, full of novelty and ro- 
mance. The shape of the houses ; the narrowness of 
the winding streets; the style of dress; the methods of 
working, — the carpenter planing and sawing toward in- 
stead of from himself; the caricatures on the fans ; the 
myths of fiery dragons, bloody demons, crazy imps, 
huge giants, and tiny mortals ; the marvellous stories 
related round the hebachi by bare-pated women and 
doubled-up old men to gaping, staring children, — all 
imply there is something peculiar and surprising in the 
Japanese character. 

No wonder this has been a city of conflagrations, for 
the houses generally appear like tinder-boxes waiting 
for the match to be struck, and if inflamed the hun- 
dreds of acres on which the city stands would in a day 
become a vacant site. Most of the buildings are but 
one story high. The front room of nearly every house 
on the main streets is used for a store or a shop. The 
panes of the windows are not glass, but thin white 
paper. The most common article for sale is the clog 
shoe. Oh, dear ! how they clatter on the streets all the 
day long ! You must be thankful the noise of this clap, 
clap, clatter, clatter, is in Japan instead of in America. 
In whatever part of the city you may be, as you hear 
it you feel that everybody is out of doors and on a 
tramp. The jinrikishas are, from sunrise to sunset, as 
abundant as the fireflies in a New England meadow of a 
June evening. It is strange they do not dash against' 
one another in meeting and crossing the streets. Ah ! 
the boy-nags are experts in their way. 



JAPAN. 107 

Surely the injunction, " Increase and multiply," is 
heeded here. The babies out of doors are beyond 
numbering, and many of them are wee bits indeed. 
Most of them have shaven pates, and are hanging to 
the backs of mothers and sisters. But few old men 
and women are to be seen, and those discovered have 
scarcely any hair upon the head. Moving on, for 
miles it is one succession of stores. You wonder when 
and whence the buyers come, for you see but little 
trading. 

As you see the tramway, you have a home-like feel- 
ing, and are ready to say. If the light of day rises in the 
East, the light of civilization comes from the West. 

As you look in upon the Tokians at meal-time, — and 
this can be done without any impertinence, for they eat 
almost always in the front part of the house, which is 
open, — you see the male members of the family eating 
first, and the lower classes afterwards, from the same 
dish with chopsticks, squatting on the floor. Rice and 
fish are their staple food, and weak tea is their drink. 
However, the higher classes are more private in their 
domestic affairs, and you do not have the opportunity, 
unless invited into their homes, to see how they con- 
duct their meals. Well, by invitation just step into the 
home of a samurai while at breakfast. You find him in 
a secluded though well furnished room, sitting on the 
floor. His servant has just brought in a small tray, 
containing a cup of rice, a few bon-bons, and a bottle of 
sake. These are in front of the master, and he is eating 
the rice with the chopsticks. The servant sits on his 
feet a short distance off, watching and ready to spring 



I08 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

to do the bidding of his master. As the meal is going 
on, a neighbor comes in to have an interview with the 
samurai on some poHtical matters. He understands it 
is meal-time with the proprietor, and so avails himself 
of the opportunity of meeting him for business. But 
the neighbor does not partake of food ; in fact, he is 
not invited to do so. The master talks and eats and 
drinks, and when he has finished, the servant gathers up 
the few utensils which are on the floor and bears them 
away. The two gentlemen sit a few minutes longer, 
and then they leave the house. Now the wife and chil- 
dren have their repast by themselves. It cannot be 
that the Japanese live to eat, for they can experience 
little comfort and real pleasure while on the floor and 
so much alone; but habits once fixed are stubborn 
masters. 

One thing is certain, — it does not cost this people 
much to live. Their bed of coals, their cooking-vessels, 
plates, cups, chopsticks, and table on the floor, their 
rice and fish cost but a pittance. Young married peo- 
ple — and they are usually young, being in their teens — 
can readily set up housekeeping here. It is not neces- 
sary that the young man should wait till he gets rich 
before he is wedded. Indeed, he does not do that in 
Japan. 

Coming to the silk stores, we find large establish- 
ments, reminding us of London and New York. The 
goods are really beautiful and cheap. Were it not for 
the duties at American ports, would we not lay in a 
generous stock of all kinds of silk? It is fortunate that 
Japan has been ruled by empresses as well as emperors. 



JAPAN. 109 

The Empress Jingu Rogu led an invading army aganist 
Corea, compelling the inhabitants to give up many- 
treasures in paying yearly tribute to her country. In 
283 her son brought a woman from that country to 
teach the Japanese the art of working in silk. From 
that period they have continued to produce the silk 
and weave it into the most curious fabrics. Their mer- 
chants claim that they now manufacture the finest silks 
in the world. It is a pleasure to see them lay web after 
web, shawl after shawl, ribbon after ribbon, and hand- 
kerchief after handkerchief of silk upon the counter. 
Whether you buy or not, they seem to delight in having 
you see their assortments. 

The Japanese are naturally polite. Just see those 
two gentlemen as they meet ! How gracefully they 
bow and bow, but they do not kiss. The most perfect 
order prevails throughout the city, day and night. 
Frequently, as little urchins crowd about you to see 
the stranger, you can but wish that somebody would 
wipe their noses. It is not strange that colds are prev- 
alent here, since the weather is as changeable as in Bal- 
timore or San Francisco, and the feet and legs, too, of 
the children are usually bare, and some of them have 
on scarcely any clothes. At times it is damp and chilly, 
and snow falls. 

Book-stalls are common, in which are kept story- 
books and illustrated works. Most of these are not 
printed on white or fine paper. The binding is likely 
to be somewhat crude, and the pictures are mere cari- 
catures. They can and do make good paper, and as 
many as seventy different varieties. 



no ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Entering a store whose shelves are filled with books 
from Paris, London, Boston, and Chicago, it gives us 
a homelike experience which annihilates for the time be- 
ing all distance, and places us upon the opposite side 
of the globe. What friends good books are, and how 
they bridge time and space ! 

Hasten to another quarter and we are at the Nilson 
Bashi, the bridge that has become famous the world 
over. It is said that from it all distances in Japan are 
reckoned. Its aspect does not remind one of the old 
bridge in Rome across the Tiber, nor of the London 
Bridge over the Thames, This is made of wood and is 
in a state of decay. It is ungainly in appearance, and 
is monopolized by beggars, dirty priests, and venders of 
many kinds of trash. But from its humpback we have 
a splendid view of Fusiyama, the loftiest mass of lava 
on the face of the earth. 

As you leave the narrow ways and come into the 
broadest street of Tokio, you are led to exclaim, 
''Beautiful!" Since the fire of 1872 it has been laid 
out a mile long and three hundred feet wide, having 
roomy sidewalks. It is adorned with shade-trees and 
flower-beds, and is bordered with good buildings of 
brick, roofed with tiling. No ugly image of Buddha 
or of any other god deforms this street. If you are 
upon it or any other thoroughfare in the evening, you 
must look out for your pockets, for Japanese hands 
have a wonderful proclivity for watches and porte- 
monnaies. In spite of the watchfulness of six thou- 
sand policemen, Tokio is noted for its robberies. No 
beggars are allowed to tramp through the streets, and 



JAPAN. Ill 

it is seldom you run across a place of extreme squalor. 
Some terrible vices are legalized, but they are confined 
to certain quarters. 

There are but few horses and carriages in the city. 
The highways are not adapted to their use. The trans- 
porting is done by canals as far as possible, and the 
trucking on carts drawn by coolies. It is not uncom- 
mon to meet with a hundred men, or more, carrying a 
timber or stone of enormous size. 

Tokio is to Japan what London is to Great Britain, — 
nearly every trade and business of the country is rep- 
resented here ; so, by ransacking this city and exam- 
ining it somewhat carefully, you can learn what is being 
done throughout the land. 

The.re is any amount of quackery here, introduced 
largely perchance through foreign agencies. They 
have no distilleries and grow no opium, but spurious 
beverages and medicines are sold in large quantities, 
being labelled in the most taking manner. They, like 
the rest of the world, are ready to undertake almost 
anything for the sake of money. 

Tokio abounds in amusements and pleasures. Dram- 
atists, wrestlers, and jugglers are numerous; but the 
most inviting occasions are the flower festivals, when 
the Japanese do their best, in the way of flags, lanterns, 
blossoms, and toys, to decorate their houses, streets, 
and public squares in the most fascinating style. 

The stronghold of this capital city at present is not 
its fortifications or its temples, but its Imperial Univer- 
sity and public schools. Let us explore these cursorily. 
As we find our way to the University we soon discover 



112 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

that it is favorably situated and occupies considerable 
space, which is made-land in part. The different col- 
lege buildings are scattered through the grounds, made 
inviting by a variety of walks, shade-trees, shrubs, and 
flowers. The art-gardeners are busy here, setting out 
and trimming shrubs and trees into resemblances of 
men, animals, and curious objects. The Mikado and 
his subjects glory in the University, and are ready to do 
their best for it. The College of Engineering is the 
pride of the city and country. It presents the aspect 
of a real academy in position, proportions, and outfit; 
it is equal to the best in the West. 

Japan is resolved to produce unsurpassed engineers 
to help forward the improvements of the country. This 
department is largely patronized. Passing through the 
different rooms, we see the students draughting, recit- 
ing, listening to lectures, and practising with instru- 
ments. 

In the Law Department large numbers are in attend- 
ance, — young men earnestly engaged in taking notes 
as they are being addressed by Japanese, English, Ger- 
man, and French professors. 

In the Medical College there are also many in attend- 
ance, who are apparently deeply interested in their 
studies. It has a good museum, which is well supplied 
with specimens of human life and lower orders of ani- 
mal existence. 

In the department of Natural Science the scholars 
are not so numerous, yet they rank high in scholarship. 
They appear to be revelling in zoology, geology, min- 
eralogy, astronomy, and chemistry. These divisions 



JAPAN. 113 

are well furnished with means for illustrating the various 
subjects. 

At the present time there are over a thousand stu- 
dents in the different departments. From appearances 
we should judge them to be on an average twenty-two 
years of age. Most of them are dressed in the Euro- 
pean style. They rank high, as a rule, in scholarship. 
The President is a Japanese, and does not look to be 
past forty-five years of age. He is popular among the 
students. 

When the shoguns were ceasing to build castles, and 
orders of nobility were letting fall their sceptres, a 
teacher went forth from our land to the city of Na- 
gasaki, on the island of Sikook. The place was clothed 
with romantic charms. There he opened a school, to 
which students soon flocked. Plato in his academj/, 
Aristotle in his garden, Origen in his Alexandrian col- 
lege, and Gamaliel in the city of Jerusalem could not 
have been more devoted to the demands of their dis- 
ciples, than was this teacher to the wants of his pupils. 
His success speedily blossomed into far-reaching fame. 
Providence did not permit him to remain long in this 
position. Accordingly, he was called to Tokio, to take 
charge of what was then a School of Languages, in 
which were engaged three French, three German, and 
five American professors. He at once saw the needs 
of the institution, and accordingly broadened, deep- 
ened, and ennobled it. So out of that beginning the 
University of Tokio has been developed into an institu- 
tion of which the nation may well be proud. Its fac- 
ulty is made up of foreign and native teachers. It is 

8 



114 



ROUND THE GLOBE. 



supported by the Government, and controlled by the 
Mikado and his Cabinet. 

The pubHc schools are under the supervision of a 
minister of education, who resides in Tokio. The 
present school system is modelled after ours. These 
schools are mostly taught by males. They are classed 
as Primary, Middle, Normal, and Collegiate schools. 
Three years are fixed as the minimum, and eight as the 
maximum course in the lower grades. The middle 
schools answer to our grammar schools, and the colleges 
to our high and fitting schools. The training-school is 
for the purpose of preparing students for teaching. No 
one can secure a school here without first presenting a 
certificate of qualification from one of these schools. 
All the schools are supported by taxation. The salaries 
of teachers are established by the Government. Parents 
and guardians are encouraged to visit the schools, and 
especially at the examinations. The following are the 
latest official statistics : — 



SCHOOLS. 


Number of 
Schools. 


Number of 
Teachers. 


Number of 
Students. 


Elementary ... 

High 

Normal 

Technical .... 
Universities . . . 
Others 


29,233 
142 

65 

103 

2 

1,326 


97,316 

h-i33 

714 

583 

194 

2,213 


3.233,226 
15,690 

7,270 

8,913 

1,881 

58,006 



The total outlay on these schools is estimated at 
1,102,406,479 yens. A yen is equal to seventy cents 
of our money. 



JAPAN. 115 

The sexes are educated separately. For exercise the 
boys go through a course of mihtary drill, and the girls 
are trained to the use of the dumb-bells. On entering 
and leaving the schoolroom the pupils are required to 
keep step according to military rule. 

Formerly the schools were connected with religious 
establishments, and the teaching was under the control 
of the priests ; but now they are entirely free from the 
Church, and are managed by the State. 

The Japanese teachers are well qualified for their 
work. The schools are mostly in charge of men ; how- 
ever, some women assist in the instruction. The feeling 
prevails that women cannot be first-class teachers, but 
this error will be removed as their education advances. 

The Japanese are indebted to the American mission- 
aries for their present system of instruction. They are 
glad to acknowledge this fact, and are employing many 
missionaries to teach English in their public schools; 
and from their successful work the Mikado and his 
advisers contemplate putting the fitting-schools under 
the direction of the Christian missions. " Give us more 
Hght " seems to be the watchword of the land. 

It is well worth while to see some of these public 
schools in operation. So we select the central district 
of a city. It is eight o'clock in the morning. As we 
approach the building it offers an imposing front, being 
made of brick and in modern style. In the yard a host 
of boys are under the charge of a drill-master, who is 
training them and putting them through active and 
varied evolutions. The boys are from eight to fourteen 
years old, with bright faces. They enter into these 



Il6 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

t 

exercises with zeal and manifest pleasure. This drill 
lasts for an hour; and as the boys break rank, they have 
a few moments to themselves. When the signal is given, 
they all quickly come into line and march into the 
hall, where they halt, still keeping step, take off their 
caps and clogs, or straw sandals, putting them in the 
place assigned to each student, and then, moving on, 
file into their several rooms at the same time, each 
teacher taking charge of his own pupils. It is very 
quiet. The doors are closed, and school proper begins. 
There is no reading from the Sutras, or Buddhist Bible. 
We are in the primary room, and what a lot of wee 
brown faces are before us ! Some of them are not as 
clean as they might be. They are five, six, and seven 
years of age. The teacher is a young man, and near 
him is stationed an old wrinkled-faced grandpa who is 
acting as monitor. The seats are flat boards without 
any backs, and the desks too are merely boards looking 
dingy and worn. There is a blackboard in front of the 
pupils, made of wood and nearly void of paint. On the 
wall are some charts with strange-looking characters on 
them ; these constitute the Japanese alphabet, which 
has nearly double the number of letters of ours. The 
teacher sounds a letter, and then the whole school give 
it. The sounds are not difficult, but a long time is re- 
quired to learn to recognize and write the letters. The 
children are required to give the strictest attention. At 
length one pupil, and then another, is called to the 
chart to point out the different characters as the teacher 
calls for them. After this drill of half an hour, a class 
comes upon the floor to read. Their books are made 



JAPAN. 117 

of coarse buff paper, and the pages appear to be cov- 
ered with sprawls and crude pictures drawn with char- 
coal crayons. The children are evidently pleased with 
the illustrations. We should say that the front side of 
their books is the back side, and that the lines begin on 
the left-hand side of the page, and run down instead 
of across. The most perfect order prevails. 

From this room we pass to the next higher. The 
style of the room is similar to that of the primary. Of 
course the seats and desks are larger. The room is 
well ventilated. Here are forty boys, on an average ten 
years old. The dark faces shine, and the eyes sparkle. 
The first exercise is reading. Their articulation is not 
plain, nor their compass of voice full. To vary the 
exercise a few are called to the desk ; and as they turn 
to the scholars they bow gracefully, place the book 
properly, and begin to read at once. These read 
louder and more distinctly. 

In another room we find boys still older. They are 
reciting in arithmetic. While one is sent to the black- 
board, the others take their copy-books, and as the 
teacher reads the problem the pupils write it down and 
then work as fast as they can in solving !t. As soon 
as they obtain an answer the hands come up, and the 
teacher goes round examining their papers and mark- 
ing those that are correct, " acceptable." These pupils 
are at work in fractions, and think them hard. 

In the next grade, which is the grammar school, we 
find the scholars pursuing grammar, history, geography, 
and elementary algebra. Their work in drawing and 
figuring is rapid. We hear a "class read in English, 



Il8 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

using Wilson's Reader. This sounds natural and good. 
It is surprising how well some of them read. 

As we go into two of the girls' schools, we meet with 
pupils who are earnest for an education. Many of their 
faces are handsome. In one room they are having an 
exercise in needlework. These rooms are in charge of 
men. 

When the bell strikes the hour of noon the books are 
laid aside immediately, and the scholars in charge of 
the teachers march through the halls into a large dining- 
room, where with the teachers they are seated according 
to their grade. Before them are cups of rice and tea. 
At the given signal they all begin to eat; and they ap- 
ply the chopsticks and sip the tea with a relish. They 
all fare alike as to kind and quantity of food. This 
frugal meal, so well served, does not cost more than two 
cents apiece. There are eight teachers and five hun- 
dred pupils at the tables. When the meal is finished 
the pupils march into the yard, where they have a jolly 
experience in running and jumping and in various 
other sports. Special pains is taken to develop muscle 
and uprightness of form. 

The state supervisor of the schools says he desires 
every teacher to be well versed in three things, namely, 
dignity, sympathy, and obedience, and then he will be 
able to impress these essentials upon his students. 

As you listen to the Japanese conversation, whether 
in school or in public assemblies, you soon realize 
there is music in their spoken language. While it was 
Moses who established the Hebrew tongue, Alfred the 
Saxon, and Luther the German, here it was woman ; 



JAPAN. 119 

SO the language possesses a charming euphony. It 
requires from three to five years to learn to speak it 
fluently. But speaking it is one thing, and writing it is 
quite another. However, during the early centuries of 
the nation the spoken and the written language were the 
same ; but somewhere about the sixth century of the 
Christian era the Chinese literature was introduced into 
the country, and with this movement there was a gradual 
introduction of the Chinese symbols, or letters, into 
the printed matter. This rendered the Japanese lan- 
guage far more complicated, so that at the present day 
an apt scholar cannot acquire the power to indite it 
short of ten or fifteen years of close application and 
much practice. In the public schools it is not expected 
the scholars will master the written language. The al- 
phabet of forty-two letters being increased to some four 
hundred renders the writing of their grammar very intri- 
cate and discouraging. The number of persons in the 
country is small who can fluently and correctly inscribe 
the language. Many of the pupils who have been in 
school for years cannot read the whole alphabet as it 
now stands. Because of this hindrance not a few of 
the scholars are in favor of supplanting their own by 
the English alphabet. They now require English to be 
taught in the grammar and higher grades of schools. 

On the streets it strikes us as singular that we seldom 
see any family groups. The men seem to go by them- 
selves, and so do the women ; however, the men do not 
ignore children, but are likely to have them in their 
arms or by their side. Were all the nations as prolific 
as Japan, the Malthusian theory would soon prove true. 



120 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Frequently you will see tall ladders rising far above 
the houses, with a bell near the top of each. These are 
lookouts for fires, which are common throughout the 
cities and villages. We think insurance companies do 
not thrive here, for we have discovered no huge build- 
ings and flaming placards to that end. No doubt it is 
too fiery a land for them to flourish. 

It is Sunday, but the people here are not aware of it; 
not one in a thousand has ever heard of such a day. 
But let us visit the Shiba Temple, one of the most noted 
in Tokio. It is situated in a quiet spot, somewhat 
removed from the usual bustle and noise. The first 
introduction to it is an immense red torii. Passing un- 
der this, we follow an avenue beautifully arched with 
fir-trees, giving to the sacred stone lanterns and tombs a 
solemn appearance. A bonze soon meets us to conduct 
us into the temple and to the sacred shrines. These 
lanterns are memorials erected by friends in honor 
of departed worthies, the same as we erect monuments 
to the distinguished dead, or cause memorial windows 
to be placed in churches and cathedrals. The temple 
is small, and before the shrines are a few worshippers, 
whose countenances do not indicate that the heart is 
devout in prayer, or the mind consecrated to thought. 
The priest-guide does his utmost to show the sights. 
Whether this is done so much for the sake of portray- 
ing the objects as securing rins, is a question. He calls 
attention to six large gilded lanterns memorializing 
revered shoguns. He leads on into a splendid lavatory, 
where in one part are stored bells, gongs, and lanterns, 
which can be used only on festive occasions. We now 



I 



JAPAN. 121 

turn through an elegant gate, and in front is a charming 
shrine with lacquered steps leading to it. Shoes are 
removed, and following our guide as gilded doors are 
swung back, an exquisitely fine chapel is revealed ; the 
walls are arabesqued, and the panels are carved with 
birds and flowers peculiar to Japan. Within, other 
doors are opened, and lo ! three urns plated with gold 
rising to the ceiling. In these are treasured the names 
and titles of the illustrious dead. Leaving this shrine 
we walk through other avenues and among other tombs ; 
but the creek, whose surface is wreathed with the lotus 
and the iris, the birds chirping in the trees, the bright- 
winged insects, and the variegated butterflies add 
greatly to this sacred retreat. Nature always does her 
best to render the resting-places of the dead green and 
attractive. 

But from this experience we do not get much of an 
idea of Shinto-Buddhist worship. Accordingly let us 
turn our attention to the November festival at the Tem- 
ple of Asakusa. Every day is a festive day here. It is 
dedicated to Kwan-non, the most popular of the Japan- 
ese divinities. Hither all are wont to come, whether 
they wish to worship or to have a gala time. The day 
is inviting; and as we arrive at the torii the jinrikishas 
are dismissed. We pass through the gate. No car- 
riages are allowed on this avenue, but swarms upon 
swarms of people are moving to and fro. On either 
side of the way are shops and booths, wherein are toys, 
rosaries, idols of wood and brass, household gods, bells, 
candles, flowers, gewgaws, incense-burners, bonbons, 
rope-walkers, jugglers, immoral women, and the half we 



122 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

cannot mention. A small artificial river, running par- 
allel to this street, but a little way ofif, imparts an odor 
far from pleasant. It would seem that there must be a 
demand for quinine shops to keep the people from 
dying with the ague, but none such are in sight. By a 
bridge across the stream are two bronze images of 
Buddha, the faces, as usual, wearing a restful expres- 
sion, with the lotus in the hand, and " the light of the 
world " crowning their heads. After this novel intro- 
duction of half a mile long, we come to another sort of 
gateway in which are two gigantic, bloated-faced figures. 
Men and women are at prayer before them. These are 
said to represent the male and female principles of Chi- 
nese philosophy. If this be true, the Chinese are to be 
pitied for having such a philosophy. By the way, these 
are the figures that guard the entrance to many of the 
temples. Certainly their appearance must tend to drive 
away not only robbers but true worshippers. 

A short distance in front of these stands the temple 
of Asakusa. It is not a ponderous structure, but, like 
all the other Shinto-Buddhist temples, has the tented 
roof, is made of wood painted red, and is one story 
high. To the right of us is a strong-timbered belfry 
in which hangs a tremendous immovable bell, which is 
rung by striking it with a heavy timber, and sends 
out the mellowest tones imaginable when rung. Near 
this is a seven-story pagoda that was built in honor of 
Kwan-non. This looks airy and aspiring, but not en- 
during. A broad flight of steps leads up to the temple. 
Crowds of people are ascending and descending. A 
hen with a brood of chickens monopolizes quite a space. 



JAPAN. 123 

Doves nest under the eaves, which project several feet 
beyond the walls. Entering the temple, what a rabble 
and confused mass there is in the outer court, which is 
separated from the inner by a wire gauze. The former 
is brimming full of old and young, who are pushing in 
and pushing out; some are dressed in silks, but most 
are poorly clad, with clogs on their feet and little cotton 
upon their backs. Several images of different gods are 
in this court, that carry the marks of dirty hands and 
rough worship. Just see how some of those brawny 
fellows are pelting the faces of these images with paper 
balls which they have made by masticating slips of pa- 
per covered with grotesque figures of saints and devils ; 
if they stick, they feel that their service is acceptable. 
The doves whir round and keep lighting in the midst 
of the congregation. The better class, as an offering, 
throw rins towards the face of Buddha, which is guarded 
by a screen, and so they fall into a trough placed 
on purpose to catch them. Priests are praying in the 
interior court, bells dingle, boys and girls are chatting, 
some of the aged are droning out prayers. When the 
coppers fly thick against the screen a bonze under the 
shadow of Buddha claps his hands and almost leaps for 
joy. On the walls are carvings of angels and frescos 
of sprites. Close by them is a cumbrous incense-burner 
fed by a black-toothed woman, which pours out the 
smoke like an engine. The interior court is the sanc- 
tutn sanctorum, which abounds in shrines and gods, 
both great and small. Here the lamps burn dimly, 
throwing a pall of gloom over every object. Only the 
high-toned can gain entrance here. So it is money that 



124 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

tells in the worship of Buddha. Well, it does not take 
long for them to say their prayers and satisfy their con- 
sciences, for they rush in and soon rush out. This rab- 
ble and clatter continue for hours. This is worship to 
Buddha in the temple of Kwan-non. 

But we have not seen it all yet. In the rear of the 
temple we can look upon two sleek horses which live 
upon offerings of grass and flowers to the god of this 
temple, and are kept ready for him, as he may of a 
sudden return to the earth and need them for his use. 
Farther to the rear is a meadow of rice and grass, and 
through it for half a mile is a winding path thickly set 
with booths for singing and dancing and fortune-telling 
and tea-drinking. Then there are seats to be rented, 
monkeys to be fed, and paper fangles to be sold. By 
and by we come to a motley crowd of booths and a 
swelling tide of people. This reminds us of an old- 
fashioned muster with a sham fight, and with acres of 
pedler's carts in full blast. It requires a deal of elbow- 
ing to move in any direction. But look there, as we 
front another booth, and see those wax-figures, life-size, 
all dressed in silks, with faces wonderfully expressive ! 
Do they not remind you of Madame Toussaud's museum 
in London? It is said they were produced by an artist 
after he had visited many Buddhist temples dedicated 
to the goddess Mercy. It is too bad to have such an 
exhibition in such an unappreciative throng. In the 
next booth there is a living illustration of what woman 
can do in the way of gesticulations and grimaces. She 
puts herself into all possible attitudes. She occupies a 
second-story flat, so as to be seen from afar. She surely 



JAPAN. 125 

draws the crowd. It is a spectacle, indeed, to behold 
the expression of the upturned faces. At the terminus 
of this avenue is a small chapel, open in front, where a 
bonze, or somebody else, is haranguing the people like 
an auctioneer at a forced sale. At his feet is a long, 
deep treasury-box into which the bits of copper and 
sacred balls of paper fall thick and fast by spells, as the 
speaker excites their joy or fear with startling asser- 
tions. Well, this is enough of a religious festival for 
one half-day. Such experience is about as trying to 
a stranger's nervous system as a typhoon or a volcanic 
explosion. 

For the last two centuries Buddhism, as expressed in 
Japan, has been on the decline. It is not the religion 
for the people. Though there are still some seventy- 
five thousand Buddhist priests, fifteen thousand Shintoist 
priests, and seventy thousand temples scattered through 
the land, the better class of men have little to do with 
them ; in fact, the men generally ignore religion, unless 
they have been disappointed In business, or are driving 
some sharp scheme which they imagine is beyond their 
strength, and so seek it selfishly, hoping to gain favor of 
some power superior to themselves that will give them 
success. The women are more ignorant and more loyal 
to their church. The Japanese must be rescued by 
some other religion than Shinto-Buddhism. 

As the sojourner in this land takes an outing from 
the capital city by rail, passing to the north and east, 
the landscape is charming; for as he leaves the city, 
there are gardens and groves on every hand. The 
peasant men and women are busy reaping or sowing. 



126 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

They look cool in thin loose dresses in this autumn sea- 
son. The rolling surface, dotted with patches of rice, 
cotton, wheat, onions, radishes, persimmons, oranges, 
and chrysanthemums, presents an inviting landscape. 
The fields are numerous, but small in size. The break- 
ing up and the cultivating of the soil are done mostly 
by human hands. Nearly every foot of arable ground 
is under cultivation. When ten miles away, the coun- 
try opens into wider reaches of plain-land bounded by 
woods and mountains, serrated and conical. 

At Utsumomiya, some seventy miles from Tokio, the 
cars are left. Now we ride in the jinrikisha for twenty- 
two miles, towards the heart of the country. , This city 
has a population of fifteen thousand. No English- 
speaking people have, as yet, been allowed to settle in 
it. It has no hotel, but many tea-houses. The people 
stare at strangers, but still are kindly in their actions. 
In a tea-house we are politely and generously served to 
rice, with chopsticks, bonbons, and tea for a small sum 
of money. It is past two o'clock, and jinrikishas are 
ready, with two men to each carriage. As soon as we 
are seated, away we go through the long thoroughfare 
of the city. It would seem as though the Japanese 
aimed to have their cities long and narrow. Perchance 
the reason of this is that they all wish to live on the 
main street. Soon we are riding under huge pines and 
cedars, a hundred feet tall and from two to four feet 
in diameter. Most of them stand on piles of earth, so 
that the roots are above our narrow road. They are 
giant sentinels, guarding the way to the shrined city. 
These trees are said to have been planted to render 



JAPAN. 127 

the journey to Nikko and the shrines of shoguns at- 
tractive and delightful. To begin with, Nature had 
done her best, it would seem, to make the country- 
most inviting; and this offering, certainly, of a gener- 
ous soul and admirer of the heroic dead adds greatly 
to the glories and splendor of Nature. As the slant- 
ing sunlight flickers through their foliage and the cool 
breeze fans the face of Nature, a voice says. This way 
leads to a silent city of the most honored dead. Every 
now and then is a wayside altar or simple stone set up 
by reverent hearts, that pilgrims may halt and worship. 
When five miles distant our boys stop at a tea-house 
for a few moments' rest, and the opportunity of bath- 
ing their chests and heads and drinking a cup of tea. 
The house is in charge of a lady of fine form and 
pleasant face. Everything appears clean and neat. 
Beautiful flowers are on the stands, Japanese pictures 
are on the walls, and lanterns hang thick from the 
ceiling. Only five minutes' rest here, and then like 
colts our boys speed on. The flora is decidedly va- 
ried and prolific. Bluebells hang from the ridges, and 
anemones peep out of the hollows. In the distance are 
the Nantaizan Mountains, whose sides are abrupt and 
whose tops are pointed. Time flies, and so do our jin- 
rikishas. At Imaichi another solemnly grand highway 
joins the one we are on, which had a like origin. 
Those who plant parks and adorn highways with trees 
are certainly establishing famous monuments to their 
names. 

Before sunset we are riding through the extended 
city of Nikko. The site of the city, the shape of the 



128 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

houses, the steep wooded hills, and the roar of the 
Daiyagawa remind us of experiences among the Alps. 
The houses are small and low; the front of nearly 
every one is a store or shop. The jack-knife, lathe, 
and saw, and the needle, scissors, and crayon must be 
dexterously applied here. We have no choice as to 
our stopping-place, for there is but one where Eng- 
lish foreigners can be accommodated. As we alight 
from our carriages, we have been four and a half hours 
in reaching Nikko from Utsunomiya. The course has 
been ascending most of the way. Entering the hotel, 
we are reminded still more of Switzerland. The wood- 
work is plain and unpainted, but clean ; the partitions 
between the rooms movable. The beds are on the 
floor, the window-panes are paper ; the water is soft, 
the towels clean, the coolies pleasant, the fare good, the 
house quiet, and the rate one dollar a day. 

The scenery about Nikko is beyond description. 
The hills, vales, waterfalls, mammoth trees, temples in 
the groves, and mausoleums of the famous dead render 
the city attractive in winter and beautiful in summer, — 
a shrine where priests linger, and a Mecca whither pil- 
grims come from all parts of the world to wonder or 
worship amid the glories of Nature and the marvellous 
works of man. 

The Japanese believe in worshipping men, especially 
dead heroes. Wonderful stories they tell of their Mi- 
kados. Nearly every city can point you to its written 
history, and every province has its encyclopaedia of 
the treasured past. Neither will they fail to inform 
you of their first written Bible, produced in the sixth 



JAPAN. - 129 

century, consisting of three large volumes, — the first 
treating of the Creation and the events of the holy 
age ; the second and third of the history of the 
Mikados from 660 to 1288 of the Christian era. 
They are sure not to forget to recount the victories 
and achievements of lyeyasu from the sixteenth cen- 
tury to the present time. They will refer you also 
to Jemmu Tenno, their first Imperial Mikado, who 
was the fifth in descent from the sun-goddess, and 
therefore divine, as all the other Mikados have been, 
being his descendants, making the present one the 
one hundred and twenty-sixth in direct lineage. 

The people dote upon their memorials as expressed 
in martial implements, tombs, and temples. Many of 
them believe that the Japanese were the first inhabitants 
of the earth, and that therefore their country can ex- 
hibit what no other can in the way of relics and antiq- 
uities. So you hear much about Mikados, shoguns, 
daimios, and samurai. Now, the shoguns were next 
to the Mikado in authority, and were the chiefs of the 
daimios, who constituted the aristocracy, belonging to 
the imperial family; and the last were warriors, or 
those who defended their superiors and exercised au- 
thority over peasants, artisans, and merchants. This 
was nothing less than a feudal system, which reached 
its climax in the seventeenth century. 

At this period lyeyasu made his appearance. He 
had risen from obscurity in spite of severest opposi- 
tion, placing himself in the front rank of national afi'airs. 
He was a genius, and equal to the greatest emergencies. 
He was a Napoleon in the highest degree, coveting 

9 



130 . ROUND THE GLOBE. 

power, and astute enough to cause others to yield to 
his sceptre. Now behold him in Yeddo, with three 
thousand laborers to do his bidding. The heaviest 
walls were laid, deep moats were dug, marshes were 
filled, boats floated on the river, junks went out to 
sea, castles were enlarged, city gates were strength- 
ened, towers were built, and a village of a few thousand 
inhabitants in the corner of the country was soon in- 
creased to half a million. This was sufficient to make 
a man great as a ruler and a statesman, rendering his 
name forever memorable in the hearts of his country- 
men. 

The Japanese take delight in describing "the man 
living and the man glorified: They say that in battle 
lyeyasu never said to his soldiers, " Go," but leading 
the van, would bid his men " Come." When he died all 
mourned his death, and buried him with sore lamen- 
tations at Runo Zan in a lovely spot on the side of a 
mountain where the cedars sang a requiem and the 
roar of the sea joined in the chorus. 

But his son Hiditada and the nation could not let his 
remains rest there ; for the people said the most beau- 
tiful spot of all the earth is at Nikko, where the Shinto 
deity first manifested Buddha to the Japanese. Ah ! 
they say, Nature here as nowhere else has concentrated 
her beauties and glories into snowy peaks, glassy lakes, 
and shady groves. Accordingly, the son and the peo- 
ple felt that the most sacred dust must be deposited in 
the most sacred place. So they caused a grand mauso- 
leum to be builded high on the mountain-side, fronting 
the south and overlooking the valley below, wherein 



JAPAN. 131 

the city of Nikko is now embosomed. After the hon- 
ored ashes of lyeyasu had slept a year at Runo Zan, 
they were tenderly borne by daimios in gorgeous pomp 
across plains, through vales, and over hills to this place, 
where Mikado, lords, captains, and priests in most sol- 
emn array received them; and the Great Mikado of 
heroism and of peace was deified as " The Great Light 
of the East, the Great Incarnation of Buddha." For 
three days a choir of Buddhist priests intoned their 
most sacred dirge ten thousand times. 

The son was not equal to the great responsibility fall- 
ing upon him, and so did not make his father's place 
good or preserve his nation's prosperity; but his son 
became the ablest of all the succeeding Tokugawas, and 
was highly honored because he had honored his na- 
tion and his grandsire ; and when he departed this life, 
his remains were entombed just below those of the 
great lyeyasu. 

Now it is plain how and why Nikko should have be- 
come such a sacred resort. Its name signifies " sunny 
splendors." Poetry has sung of its wondrous beauties, 
art has pictured it as almost ethereal, and Nature has 
so commingled valley, river, dell, fall, hill, wood, and 
mountain as to render it surprisingly beautiful. Its 
sunrises, noontides, and sunsets are described as unsur- 
passingly splendid. 

But let us see for ourselves. As we go into the street 
in the morning, we soon learn whither the masses are 
tending. Faces are turned across the river to the forest 
and towers on the mountain-side. There it was, so tra- 
dition says, on Notake Iwa, that Buddha first through 



132 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Shinto manifested himself to the dwellers in this pictur- 
esque land. Walking half a mile, we cross a new ver- 
milion bridge close by the old Red Bridge, which is 
kept sacred and can be crossed only by the most holy 
feet. Now we go up a broad road faced with stone on 
either side, overhung with loftiest evergreens ; soon we 
pass under a grand torii of stone, and after this come 
the one hundred and eighteen bronze lanterns on granite 
bases, each of which has been set up by different donors 
in honor of lyeyasu. Here, too, is an offering of a 
granite trough supplied with holy water, with a roof set 
upon stone pillars and adorned by a bell, a lantern, and 
figures of rare workmanship. A short distance on is 
a five-story pagoda, finely carved and gilded. Up a 
flight of stairs and we pass under another exquisitely 
cut torii hung with costly trappings, and this brings 
us to a temple surrounded with a pebbly court and 
decorated with carvings beautifully set with pearls 
and precious stones. From this we climb another flight 
of steps to a gate adorned with serpents and Chinese 
dragons. Well, we weary of such display and such 
strano-e memorials. There would seem to be no end 
to the shrines, the temples, the torii, and the magnifi- 
cent trees. After climbing and wandering we are led 
by a bonze to a staircase of several hundred stone steps, 
moss-covered, which we ascend, and lo ! at the top 
is the sarcophagus and tomb containing the ashes of 
Japan's most heroic dead. The tomb is of stone and 
bronze, with a stone table in front adorned with a bronze 
stork and a vase of lotus blossoms. The tomb is over- 
topped with a large bronze urn. The whole is enclosed 




A GREAT CEDAR, TORII, AND PAGODA. 



JAPAN. 133 

with a heavy wall of granite and shadowed with the 
grandest evergreens. In a clear day the sunlight drops 
flickering sheens on this lofty, silent resting-place of 
lyeyasu. It is verily a still abode. We hear no rustle 
of squirrel in the leaves, no hum of insect in the air, nor 
even chirping of birds in the treetops. The dimness and 
dampness nourish mosses, ferns hang from the crevices 
of the walls, and lichens feed on the trunks of the trees. 
The greatest Hebrew found his grave on the mountain- 
top ; so did the greatest Japanese. The former lived 
and spoke for his people and the world ; the latter 
wrought for his own land and people. 

In descending from this height we find these funereal 
objects of no less interest. We can but marvel more 
and more, as we inspect, and ask whence came the 
means and how could men have had patience to do so 
much that is massive and intricate. But men have been 
laboring here for two hundred and seventy years, and 
pilgrims by the thousands have continued to visit tomb 
and temple and drop offerings of mites and fortunes 
into the treasury. Thus they seem bound to do ; so 
work of stone, wood, bronze, and lacquer will be added 
to the already wondrous collections. 

Down the mountain, close by the temples of lyeyasu, 
are the temples and tomb of lyemitsu ; magnificent 
these are, but not so magnificent as the former. These 
are more crowded with gods, and highly covered with 
grotesque figures. Gods of thunder, terrors of wind, 
and demons of fury sit by gates and shrines and tomb. 
These idols are remarkable for showing their teeth. 
The carvings in stone and wood and bronze are won- 



134 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

derful. But the flowers and vegetation are, after all, a 
thousand times more attractive. The needles of the 
pine, the plumage of the bamboo, the gentian blossoms, 
and the monstrous lotus-pads are far more interesting 
than the tawdry display of man. In them there are no 
false shapes or colors. But fascination is sure to brood 
over this mountain-side. The works of God and man 
will continue to render it memorable. For centuries it 
will be sought and reverenced. This, of all other re- 
treats in Japan, is, and is to remain, the place of heroic 
worship. 

At this moment one of the sweetest-toned bells strikes 
the hour of five. The day has been somewhat overcast, 
but the slanting rays of the sun are gilding the tips of 
the mountains with gold. As we come into an open 
space and look around, we can but exclaim. How diver- 
sified and stupendous are the works of God ! Surely 
here he has concentrated and combined the beautiful, 
the grand, the peaceful, and the sublime in a peculiar 
manner ! The roar of waterfalls, the glimpse of tem- 
ples in the dark forests, the Japanese houses, and the 
Nikkoan people conspire to render this an enchanted 
city, where priests delight to dwell and the greatest of 
the Tokugawas lie entombed. Let it continue to be 
a place of sacred memories, and pictured as green in 
the coldest winter and cool in the hottest summer, with 
balmy skies, filled with the music of chiming bells. 

A walk of twelve miles from Nikko to Yumoto Lake 
affords one a good idea of mountain life in this land. 
The course is west and north. For a few miles it is 
along the current of the Daiyawa, zigzagging among 



JAPAN. 135 

stones and trees. We pass through several villages, 
rural and romantic. Though quaint and simple, the 
people seem to be kind and honest. The tea-shops 
are plenteous, and cordially welcome strangers. In the 
summer there are many pleasure-seekers who travel this 
way because of the scenery and the refreshing breezes, 
but in this late autumn-time the natives find recreation 
in the valleys and the more sunny regions. However, 
now and then we fall in with a kago, which is the com- 
mon vehicle of the hilly country, transporting a woman 
or an aged man. In one instance we meet a gentleman 
on horseback. His animal does not resemble the fine 
Morgans of Vermont or the English trotters. As we 
get on half the distance, it is wild indeed. The way 
becomes steeper, crossing and recrossing streams leap- 
ing down their stony beds. The basalt ledges pro- 
trude from the hillsides ; the chestnuts, maples, oaks, 
and basswoods stand strong and thick much of the way. 
All of a sudden, on gaining a height, two beautiful 
waterfalls greet the eye, throwing out their spray and 
arching the deep gulf with numberless rainbows. The 
Japanese speak of these falls as among the most re- 
markable. It is true that large sheets of water do roll 
over the precipices, but they fade into insignificance 
when compared to thousands we have in America. 
Soon we wind and climb hundreds of steps up an 
otherwise impassable mountain-side. The underbrush 
becomes thicker and thicker. The backward look more 
than compensates for the tugging and sweating. We 
take a side road for a mile or two, to look upon more 
falls which fully compensate for the trouble. These 



136 ROUND THE GLOBE. . 

are peculiarly wild. The foaming tide falls many feet 
below our position, sending up the roar of many watfers. 
Then, too, the huge basin is edged and fretted with 
ferns and flowers. 

From this point the path to Yumoto is through 
jungles of hydrangeas, azaleas, and blooming shrubs. 
Soon coming to the lakeshore, the picture is thrilling. 
Verily, here are waters among the mountain-tops ! 
The lake must be ten miles long and from one to five 
wide. The sides of the mountains rise up wooded and 
steep. As the sunlight glints the water, mountains and 
woods are in the depths as well as on the heights. 
How singular that we can look upon this glassy sur- 
face and discover mirrored there the sky, the clouds, 
and the varied landscape ! God has made all things 
beautiful, and given us eyes to see them. 

At length we come to a lone village hanging upon 
the sides of Shiraneyama and dipping down to the 
water's edge. The houses are built of reddish cedar, 
shaped for the most part with the axe and handsaw. 
The people look smiling and happy. How little they 
know of the outside world ! In the simple hotel, which 
is a tea-house, we are kindly waited upon and served to 
the best the mistress has, which is rice, trout, and tea. 
Boats have just come to the shore with parties who have 
been dropping the hook and taking out trout which will 
weigh from eight ounces to three pounds. There must 
be a hundred of these shining beauties. A sight like this 
can but stir the blood of every one who has any fondness 
for the famous Izaak Walton, making him feel that he 
would delight to cast the line and pull out such fish. 



JAPAN. 137 

In the winter the snow falls here ten feet deep, and 
so in the fall the people wrap up their houses with rush 
matting, roof and all, and descend into the valleys, there 
remaining till May, when they return with joy to this 
little village overshadowed by a mountain eight and a 
half thousand feet high. Oh, there is something about 
the lakes and mountains, the world over, that does en- 
chant and rest and invigorate ! 

In the all-day ramble we have seen but few birds, 
although we heard several pheasants drumming. We 
have seen no snakes or wild beasts, and have not been 
bitten by any insects. 

This lake is wilder than Como, as abruptly hemmed 
in by mountains as Lucerne, as wild as Lake George, 
and as fully clothed with legends as Katrine. As the 
ages roll on, it will be sought and admired. 

Coming to Kob6 from the sea, is somewhat like en- 
tering the Bay of Naples. The water is inviting, and 
the houses stand round the bay. Kobe is the new part 
of the city, and Hiogo the old. The population of each 
is about the same, having in both some eighty thousand. 
This is the seaport for a large section of country and 
for several large cities. It takes two days to reach it 
by steamer from Yokohama, sailing south and west. 
The bay is overlooked by a concave range of high 
billowy hills. Upon their flanks and on the level by the 
sea stands the city. Enter Kobe, walk the streets, go 
through the stores and hotels, and you feel as though 
you must be in England or in America; but cross the 
bridge into Hiogo and you realize most fully you are 
not yet out of Japan. 



138 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Taking the cars here for the north, in the course of 
an hour you are in the largest plain of the whole coun- 
try. It is said that there are scattered over it more 
than a thousand villages and cities. But it appears -to 
be one vast field of rice, yellow for the harvest. Still, 
as we inspect it more closely, we see patches green with 
recently sown wheat, large fields planted out with tea, 
cotton-plants crowned with their snowy bolls, and gar- 
dens rich with varieties of vegetables. Men and women 
are scattered throughout the wide domain, taking off 
crops and planting others. Some are spading up the 
soil, or breaking it up with the heifer or the horse; 
others are putting in the seed, and still others dropping 
compost from the basket. Every foot of arable soil 
appears to be improved. Along the streams the wil- 
low and eucalyptus thrive; on some of the knolls are 
groves of pine, maple, and oak. This level region must 
measure thirty by fifteen miles. 

This is the part of the country in which to study the 
farming interests. It was a blessing to Japan when the 
castle gave place to the palace, and the emperor sup- 
planted the feudal lord. Since the revolution of 1870, 
and the institution of the present form of government, 
rapid progress has been made in agricultural methods. 
In a few instances sheep have been introduced, horses 
have multiplied, cows are feeding in the pastures, and 
oxen turning the furrows. Still on only a few farms will 
you find ploughs, carts, reapers, and other implements 
so common in our country. In this land, through the 
aid of the Agricultural College, apple and pear trees 
and vines have been planted, and are doing well. 



JAPAN. 139 

Formerly the land was owned altogether by the 
Mikado and rented to tillers. The ruler was sure to 
get the lion's share, and the daimios would come in for 
theirs ; so that the peasant would not have more than 
a fourth of all raised in the most favorable season, and 
in case of a drought he would be obliged to give up 
all he raised and even beg for himself. But at present 
his taxes are not so burdensome, and in the course of a 
few years he will be likely to have his little farm of five 
or ten acres in his own possession. However, he can 
own only the soil. If mines of gold and coal are found 
on his possessions, the Government claims them. Most 
of the farmers live in hamlets ; still some have their 
homes on the land they cultivate. It is safe for them 
to live isolated, if they choose. It is quite different here 
from what it is in Spain or Asia Minor ; for there the 
people are obliged to dwell in communities for self-pro- 
tection. The true wealth of Japan lies in her agricultural 
resources, and not in her mines and manufactures. Is 
not this true of our own country? Dispense with the 
farms, East and West, and our wealth and national 
strength would soon be gone. The present Mikado 
takes a decided interest in the advancement of agricul- 
ture. This is another fact to show that the country has 
a bright future before it. 

The soil of the intervals and valleys, composed of 
vegetable and volcanic products, is dark and rich. The 
uplands and mountain-sides are grassed and wooded. 
The grasses differ considerably from ours, though the 
clovers and red-top are common. The lowlands are 
well watered by countless streams from the mountains. 



140 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

It would seem that the system of irrigation has reached 
a state of perfection in many parts of this country. 

As we examine the fields more closely, we find that 
they are small and that the rice-plats occupy the lowest 
ground. These plats, before seeding takes place, are 
mellowed and made very level, bordered with a ridge 
of earth and topped with grass-sods, which serve as 
dams and walks. Now the water is let into them 
through a gateway so as to gauge it just right. In 
the rainy season the water from the rivers is entirely 
shut out. 

The rice is sown in small beds, and when up some 
two inches, is transplanted to the field where it is to 
grow. Small bunches of blades are set ten inches 
apart. As soon as this is done, water is let into the 
plat, and the roots are kept covered with it till a short 
time previous to harvest, when it is entirely shut out. 

The rice-straw usually grows fifteen inches high. 
The crop that is now being harvested shows a good 
yield, judging from the drooping of the heads. The 
reapers are thick in the fields, cutting up and binding 
the straw into small bundles and hanging them upon 
bamboo poles to dry; those already dry are being 
threshed in the road that runs through the meadow; 
or in some cases women with babes upon their backs 
are taking up handfuls of straw, and are drawing the 
heads of the rice through an iron comb which shells 
out the kernels. As we look into a dooryard we see 
a woman winnowing the rice by throwing it into the 
air and letting the wind blow out the chaff. Then, 
again, we see a man winnowing with an old-fashioned 



JAPAN. 141 

machine, and close by him are three coolies grinding 
rice by turning a stone by a lever upon another stone. 
There are mills driven by water ; but much of the grind- 
ing, especially back in the country, is done by hand. 
In fields where the rice has been off long enough to 
have the ground dry, they are being broken up again 
for sowing wheat. The wheat is sown the same as the 
rice, but is hilled up some three inches. 

As already stated, the farm here does not embrace a 
large area. On an average an acre of land will support 
four persons, as people live in this country. Five cents 
a day will feed a farmer. Rice and tea with a little fish 
constitute his breakfast, dinner, and supper; and his 
clothes cost but a trifle. 

On slightly higher land than that for rice are tea- 
fields, whose plants are bushy and two to three feet high 
when three years old. These plants are perennial, and 
the older the plants the better the leaves. Women and 
children are culling and picking the green leaves, which 
are afterward dried in the sun, and then are ready for 
use. This is green tea; but if it is to be shipped across 
the sea, then it is put through a process of firming, as 
it is called, in order to withstand the effects of the salt 
water. The black tea is picked from the same plants ; 
the leaves are older, and while drying pass through a 
stage of fermentation which turns them dark. 

Going upon ground still higher, we are in cotton- 
fields, where men and women are gathering the bolls, 
which are not large or abundant. 

The peasants say they cannot grow cotton here as it 
is grown in America. In this part of the country they 



142 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

usually raise two crops of the cereals a year. If the 
first is rice, the second will be wheat or millet. 

The farmers are not only particular to irrigate, but 
also to enrich their soil. The cultivation of rice is very 
exhausting to the land, and so they take care to make 
all the composts possible and secure all they can from 
villages and cities, either in a solid or fluid state. This 
work of transferring the waste from the houses is done 
daily. Care is taken in the hotels and private dwellings 
to save the offal for the night-scavengers, to be borne 
off to enrich the soil. We can but admire the industry 
and frugality of the Japanese farmer ; however, we must 
regret that he holds so tenaciously to ancient customs 
in doing his work. You find him peaceful, unless you 
attempt to infringe upon his landed rights, and then he 
is ready to fight you unto death in self-defence. 

In nearly the centre of this plain is Osaka, which for- 
merly was called the Venice of Japan, because of its 
numerous canals running through the city, but latterly 
has been denominated the Manchester of the Mikado's 
dominion. Well, it is a city of three hundred thousand 
inhabitants, living mostly in one-story buildings, joined 
together save where the water divides them. They 
are made of wood and roofed with tiling. The streets 
are narrow, but tolerably smooth, so that the jinrikishas 
can fly back and forth without any obstruction. Riding 
through the city, you discover little besides stores and, 
shops. You can but query as to how the people live. 
But as you see their naked feet and limbs, you conclude 
it does not cost them much for clothing, and then, as 
you observe them in the morning, at noon, and in the 



JAPAN. 143 

evening eating their frugal mess of rice and fish and 
drinking their tiny cup of tea, you decide it does not 
cost them much to Hve. 

This is an old city, though it has been several times 
nearly destroyed by fire and flood. In its centre stands 
an imposing structure. This is the mint of the Empire, 
signifying something nobler than castellated bulwarks. 
It is one of the largest mints of the world. \ 

Here, too, is the principal fitting-school for the State 
University. It sustains about the same relation to this 
institution that Exeter Academy does to Harvard Uni- 
versity, or Eton to Oxford. There is also a State 
Normal School here, having more than five hundred 
students in attendance. 

The largest cotton-mills of the country are in this city. 
Thirty years ago there was not a cotton-spinning mill in 
the country; now there are twenty in successful opera- 
tion, and half of that number are in this city, with forty 
thousand spindles, representing a capital of a million 
dollars. 

Silks are manufactured in Osaka and the neighboring 
villages, and likewise porcelain and bronze ware. 

Now, here is a fact of importance to us. The ma- 
chinery for these mills was purchased in England ; not 
a single spindle or lathe came from our country. The 
same is true of the railroad iron, — it has been brought 
from Great Britain and Germany. 

Now, in 1885 the exports of our country amounted to 
$37y^37>34S, and the imports to ^29,356,967. The fol- 
lowing year the exports amounted to ;^48,875,47i, and 
the imports to ^32,169,432, showing a gain in trade 



144 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

during one year of more than $14,000,000. Now, the 
share our nation had in this trade was as follows : it pur- 
chased from Japan goods to the amount of $16,000,000, 
and sold to the country $3,000,000 worth of goods, 
giving a balance of $13,000,000 to Japan; while Great 
Britain sold during the same time to Japan $12,000,000 
worth, and purchased from her $4,000,000 worth of 
goods, giving England a balance of $8,000,000. The 
sales of Great Britain were confined mostly to cotton 
and iron manufactures. Now, it is known the United 
States produces more than half of the cotton grown on 
the globe, and should she not be able to convert it into 
cloth and furnish it to Japan as cheap as England can, 
since she first carries the cotton across the Atlantic and 
then converts it into cloth and conveys it sixteen hun- 
dred miles, while we could get the same into the coun- 
try by shipping it not more than one thousand miles? 
The same facts are true of iron. So, then, does it not 
behoove our country to take steps at once to furnish 
Japan with more goods? 

England pushes her sales here ; why should not 
America? We have the advantage over any other 
country in some respects. The Japanese have adopted 
our post-office system, are modelling their schools 
after ours, have established their Agricultural College 
on an American basis, and are holding our missionaries 
in highest esteem. This shows that the Japanese are 
favorably inclined to our country, and would be ready 
to buy of us if they could do as well as with the Eng- 
lish. We have fallen in with different agents from 
Great Britain, who are here on purpose to make 



JAPAN. 145 

sales, but we have not chanced to meet one from our 
country. 

Some twenty miles to the north from Osaka is Kioto, 
with a population of three hundred thousand. It has 
the right to claim great beauty of situation. It is like 
onyx, jasper, and agate in emerald setting. Its natu- 
ral beauty cannot be surpassed in this land of. the 
beautiful and sublime. The Kumo River meanders 
round the southern part, into which flow other streams, 
and rushes on to the sea as the grand Yodo. 

The old portions of the city are on a plain in whose 
centre stands the Old Palace. In the palmy days of 
Shinto-Buddhism this was a most attractive place. 
Ruler and subject were deeply interested in the spread 
of their religion. Hosts of men were filled with char- 
ity, and were glad to invest in behalf of their god. So 
temples soon covered a hundred acres to the north, and 
were set thick on the wooded mountain-side to the east. 
It was not long before two thousand temples adorned 
the city. Huge walls were builded, and pagodas raised. 
On certain occasions the people from all the land 
flocked together in this capital of the nation, having 
brought precious metals, that at a particular signal 
they might be thrown into a great caldron under which 
the fires were burning red. Then, all expectant, priest 
and common worshipper would send up earnest pray- 
ers, as the precious things were becoming molten, that 
the mass might be sufficient to fill the mould to the 
brim, making a bell of five tons, or more, in weight. 
Whenever there was a lack of material to render the 
bell complete, hearts would agonize, priests would rush 

10 



146 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

among the throngs, entreating, " Give, give ! " and gold 
and silver would be stripped from hands, heads, and al- 
tars and thrown into the remolten mass ; and when the 
casting was done this time, it would be complete, pro- 
ducing a bell to send out near and far mellowest and 
strongest tones, calling the masses to praise Buddha. 

Kioto was a city of temples and religious influence. 
The thirteenth century came, and Buddhism was in its 
glory in this land of vales and hills and mountains and 
propitious skies. Kioto was the ideal city, and from 
afar pilgrims would make long journeys to it that they 
might look upon the divine Mikado and his wonderful 
array of shrines. Could they do this but once, they felt 
quite sure of being finally absorbed into Buddha. 

The city had reached its zenith as the fourteenth cen- 
tury came, and in the beginning of the seventeenth lye- 
yasu came into power through dramatic acts, and during 
his reign the fading laurels of Kioto were transferred 
to Yeddo, now Tokio. Since that event Kioto has been 
living upon the past. It has been honored for its an- 
tiquities. Its moss-covered walls, its tarnished altars, 
its decaying temples, its faded pagodas, its crumbling 
tombs, its unburnished bells, its dwindling priesthood, 
its scattering worshippers, all emphasize the past. 

In spite of this, it is still a city of enchantment. It 
abounds in quaint nooks and peaceful retreats. Hither 
the rambler can come and find pleasant resorts, the 
poet can find his Muse by shady walks, the artist can 
sketch fairest views, and the scholar can rest in medita- 
tive groves. 

If one would see the effects of Shintoism and Buddh- 



JAPAN. 147 

ism, let him come hither and wander among these 
temples, so thickly set along the mountain-side and 
shaded by oaks and cedars, observing the shaven-pated 
priests, looking upon the vast wooden wings of Dai 
Butsu, the many gorgeous torii, the magnificent bells, 
the numerous rows of gods in the temples, watching 
those who come to pay their votive offerings and bow 
in prayer, and he will discover that if these religions 
did once have great power over minds and hearts, they 
have lost their grip now and have become nearly life- 
less. Because of spiritual hunger, countenances are 
downcast and hearts are distressed. 

As we walk through the city we are pleased with the 
regularity of its streets, though they are but a few feet 
wide. As we look into the simple homes we find them 
chairless and bedless; still the occupants seem content 
with their rice, fish, and harmless knick-knacks. If 
wages are low, most of the people have busy hands. 

Kioto is the Florence of Japan. Here are rude 
studios, where exquisite works in bronze, stone, and on 
silk are being wrought. Curious pictures of storks, 
chrysanthemums, irises, lotuses, peonies, bamboos, 
cherry-blossoms, grasshoppers, and butterflies, with 
many other things, are to be seen painted on silk or 
paper hanging on the walls, or worked into gold, sil- 
ver, or bronze standing on the counters. 

The Japanese are born with a fondness for beauty 
and gracefulness. This is certain to be expressed in 
some shape in the poorest homes. 

Kiotoans perhaps excel in the inlaid bronzes, or 
bronzes with reliefs in silver and gold. But their rep- 



148 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

resentations of human forms are likely to be far from 
the real. 

When there are so many pretty and beautiful things, 
how one naturally longs to make presents to the dear 
ones far away. But the lack of money, the custom- 
houses, and the trouble of carriage are certain to thwart 
and disappoint. Still it is a joy to see the charming 
objects. 

Usually near the palace is the hut and also the 
prison; so in this city, as well as in others, are jails 
and prisons. Most of them are filled with inmates. 
Still, the prison-birds are not so numerous here as in 
countries where alcohol is freely drunk. The Japanese 
laws are quite lenient as to children and the aged who 
have committed crime, but are severe in penalties for 
others. There are ten degrees of punishment which 
may receive from ten to one hundred days' imprison- 
ment, and ten others which receive from one year of 
penal service to that of a lifetime. The trials are not 
public, but consist of a series of private examinations 
of the accused, and the witnesses for and against the 
arraigned. 

Wilful murder is punished with death, whether it be 
that of an infant or of an adult. The punishment for 
common robbery is imprisonment for life. Lovers in 
the act of committing suicide are put to hard labor in 
prison for ten years. Dealing in opium is forbidden, 
under pain of being beheaded ; and those inciting oth- 
ers to use it are liable to be hanged. Gambling is not 
allowed, and those who indulge in it find it difficult to 
escape a term of imprisonment. 



JAPAN. 149 

The present judicial system is not giving satisfac- 
tion to the Government. The movements of the age 
require reform in modes of trial, punishment, and prison 
discipline. 

To the rear of the temples along the hillsides are 
cemeteries of striking contrast. Some of them are in 
good order, with headstones erect, and graves decked 
with flowers; while others are neglected, the gate- 
ways gone, and the mounds unmarked. They are 
densely shaded with evergreens. Those frequently vis- 
ited are usually supplied with a shrine for worship and 
vases for flowers. Here, as well as elsewhere in the 
land, the burying-grounds are dilapidated. Is not this 
likely to be the case when the religion is on the de- 
cline? The torii that mark the resting-places of birds, 
and the stone lanterns too, were most of them erected 
centuries ago. As the religious hope has waned, so has 
the care for the " cities of the dead." 

Some twelve years ago there came from New Eng- 
land a Christian scholar who, in connection with a na- 
tive teacher that had been educated in our country, 
opened a school in this city. Persecution threatened 
his life at first, but he worked on, holding fast to the 
unfailing Hand. Students multiplied and were enno- 
bled in life and thought. The people at large by and 
by could but see that a worthy institution was rising 
in their midst which would prove to be a guiding 
beacon to their city. Expressed opposition was with- 
drawn erelong, and the school developed into a col- 
lege ; and now there are in it more than two hundred 
students, with a corps of seven able professors, who are 



ISO ROUND THE GLOBE. 

training the students to go forth to teach and live 
Christianity. The school made way for a church that 
now owns a fine edifice, and has been instrumental in 
planting in different parts of the city other church 
branches. It has also called forth a prosperous girls' 
school and a flourishing boys' school. Still more than 
this, it has brought into existence a large hospital, a 
training institution for nurses, and an elegant library 
building which is being fast supplied with books. At 
the dedication of the last three buildings the Governor 
of the district, the Mayor of the city, members of the 
City Council, and the President of the Native Medical 
Society participated. So, while these gentlemen have 
made no profession of Christianity, nevertheless in word 
and deed they have welcomed it to their country and 
their city. 

Now these buildings are all paid for, and it is be- 
lieved they will be self-supporting. The Christian mis- 
sion work in this city from the beginning has been 
mainly self-supporting. 

The students of the college are from different parts 
of the Empire. Already it has sent forth more than 
sixty graduates who, as teachers, preachers, and phy- 
sicians, are spreading Christianity. The college cur- 
riculum is quite full, and the professors are determined 
upon doing thorough work. The institution is favora- 
bly situated, being between the Buddhist temples on 
the north and the palace where the reigning Mikados 
lived for a thousand years, and where the present Mi- 
kado was born. 

It is refreshing to meet with such workers in the 



JAPAN. 1 5 1 

Master's cause. A bright day is dawning upon the 
Sunrise Land when Christianity shall hold sway. It 
has already so far advanced as to be a certainty in no 
distant future. Still, no one of experience here feels 
that it is to come next year or in ten years. But the 
Christian workers do know that their labors are being 
appreciated, and that the Government protects them, 
and does rejoice in their influence to improve the peo- 
ple and the country. It no longer allows any sign- 
boards to be posted in the city or country proscribing 
Christianity, as was formerly the case. 

Twenty thousand Christian communicants even now 
are connected with the various missions, and are in- 
creasing at the rate of five hundred a month. 

The Japanese are an intellectual people, and so have 
come to ignore Buddhism, and may we not say every 
religion? For this reason they have fallen into the 
egregious sins of dishonesty and sensuality, as is so 
liable to be the case with irreligious and intellectual 
people. To lift them from this state of depravity will 
require persistent toil, and time, and work of just the 
right kind. 

Japan is astir with the anticipation of the good time 
coming in 1890 when she shall have adopted a Consti- 
tution, and the people shall virtually rule the land. The 
Mikado and Cabinet are striving to this end. Educa- 
tion is being made the basis of progress. The different 
political parties are well organized and equipped with 
newspapers, clubs, and public representatives, speak- 
ing and acting with reference to the goal of 1890. The 
intelligent masses are reading and thinking, and appear 



152 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

determined to do the best possible thing for their beloved 
Japan. Religious liberty is allowed to all. Really the 
guiding spirit seems to be Christian. Japan hitherto 
was never making history as at present. This is classic 
and unique, bespeaking more hope than fear, more good 
than evil. Let the glad time speedily come, rendering 
the peasant, merchant, mechanic, artist, and scholar 
wiser and truly Christian ! 

The missionary cause has got a strong footing in most 
of the larger cities. The idea of sect is not being mag- 
nified as formerly; for the missionaries learned from 
experience that their work was impeded whenever and 
wherever they made sectarianism prominent. So the 
different denominations are aiming to be known as 
Christians, rather than as Congregationalists or Metho- 
dists or Baptists or Presbyterians. They are wont to 
speak well of one another, and hold union meetings. 
This impresses the natives favorably, proving that Chris- 
tianity signifies a life rather than a name. This method 
attracts. Only live Christianity, and who can withstand 
its power or resist its claims? It is the living Christ 
who is to overcome and subdue the world. 

We now return to the sea. The morning is halcyon. 
Seventy steamers and sailing-vessels are lying in the bay 
at Kobe. As we move southward, the course winds 
among islands after islands. Some are large, and others 
small ; some are green, and others barren ; some are in- 
habited, and others desolate. The steamer is obliged 
to tack this way and that. Surely there is variety in 
sailing through these waters. The rock is mainly lava 
and basalt. The climate grows warmer. Before the 



JAPAN. 153 

day is gone, we realize we are navigating among more 
than a thousand islands. At times the scenery is ex- 
citing ; the land is piled up into sharp peaks and abrupt 
bluffs, solfataras are smoking, and the Gulf Stream from 
the south brings increasing warmth. We realize more 
and more that Japan is a country of islands; and it 
seems stranger than ever that a people so scattered 
and isolated should cleave together as one nation, and 
should always remain so united as never to have been 
conquered by a foreign power. After a voyage of two 
days and two nights, we are in the harbor of Nagasaki, 
reminding us of a picturesque Norway fiord, especially 
that of Christiania. It is landlocked and surrounded 
by wooded hills of palms, pines, bamboos, and pome- 
granate trees. The houses stand on side hills, are small 
in size, made of wood and clay, and furnished with ve- 
randas covered with vines and trailing shrubbery. Once 
it had a population of seventy thousand; but since 
Kobe and Yokohama have become leading seaports, its 
population has fallen off one half. This was the first 
port opened to foreign trade. Its principal shipping 
now is coal, mined not far from the city. 

This harbor reminds one of Scotch lochs, or small 
bays around the coast of England. 

When, in 1542, the three Portuguese were driven to 
this island and to this city by stress of weather, they 
must have been delighted, as they looked upon these 
picturesque lands and were able to malce a treaty with 
this strange people, and so open up trade, making the 
island known to the Western world. This prepared the 
way for Francis Xavier to plant a Jesuit mission here 



154 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

calling into existence churches, hospitals, convents, and 
schools, which in the course of half a century had a fol- 
lowing of four hundred thousand converts. But after- 
wards prejudice and persecution exterminated these 
Christian converts, and not till 1854 was this port, and 
others as well, reopened to the world. Since that event 
what strides the nation has taken ! It appears bound to 
stand among the highest civilizations. Apparently its 
resources have but just begun to be developed. But 
a small proportion of its land has yet been improved, 
and its wealth of mines is just being opened up. So it 
is plain to see how its large debt can be removed, how 
its roads will be improved and multiplied. As the 
schools advance and the people become more culti- 
vated, the press will be reformed and enabled to do 
more effectual work. 

The Japanese believe in the Japanese, and are resolved 
upon preserving their identity and national character. 
They are not going to sell themselves to another nation. 
They are bound to lead in their own country. There- 
fore those missionaries have been the most successful 
who have worked behind the people and urged them 
forward as fast as possible. 

The greatest obstacles to the introduction of Chris- 
tianity and Western customs to Japan are : First, the 
ruling classes are wed to an aristocratic religion, which 
in fact is altogether political. Though they may not 
call themselves Shinto-Buddhist, nevertheless, their bias 
of mind is fixed in that direction, and much time and 
pains will be required to change it. They accept the 
Sutras and regard other Bibles as spurious. Second, 



JAPAN. 1 5 5 

they have no Sunday, and it is difficult to call them from 
their work or play into a church service or a religious 
meeting once a week; and third, the foreigners from 
Christian lands who are doing business in the country, 
as a rule, do not labor in behalf of the Christian cause. 
The natives, seeing this indifference, are slow to accept 
what these men refuse. Then, too, some of them so 
live that the Japanese seeing their fruits say, " If these 
are Christians, we do not desire to be, for Buddhism is 
far better than the doctrine they practise." 

But the American missionaries are generally respected 
for their good works. They dwell upon the love of 
God, and Christ as sent by the Father to save sinners, 
and illustrate their faith by their daily living. For this 
reason they have come to be held in highest esteem as 
Christian educators. Let their numbers be increased as 
rapidly as possible, and the time cannot be very far off, 
when Japan will become fully ripe for the reception of 
Christianity, and her thirty-four millions of sceptics will 
be induced to follow Him who is " the way and the 
truth." When this good time shall have arrived, Japan 
will be a fairer and sublimer land than she is to-day, 
and beacon-lights will flare out from her thousands of 
islands, rendering her surely the Light of eastern Asia. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHINA. 

nr^HE traveller is fortunate who enters the bay of 
Hong Kong during the evening twilight, as the 
stars are flashing out and the hills and mountains are 
becoming lost in the sky. The island of Hong Kong 
towers aloft, as though bound to have a realm on high. 
As the steamer glides cautiously into the place of moor- 
age, the light of a thousand gas-jets from the city of 
Victoria, clinging to the mountain side, throws upon us 
a resplendent picture, signalling quiet homes in the far- 
off land of China. In this quiet harbor Somnus prof- 
fers pleasant dreams and sweet sleep through the night. 
As Aurora opens her gates, letting in the golden day, 
the whole face of Nature is soon radiant with glory. 
We little thought, while on the opposite side of the 
globe, that such a resplendent picture could be found 
in this so-called Jlowejy land. It is surprising there 
should be such a contradiction between the works of 
Nature and those of man. Really, only poets and 
lovers of the beautiful ought to be born here. 

Going on shore, climbing up stairways, and inspect- 
ing public and private houses, we are led to the 
conclusion that Englishmen have planned and engi- 
neered the construction of the city of Victoria. Though 
there are more Chinamen in it than foreigners, never- 




THE FLOWERY PAGODA, CANTON. 



CHINA. 157 

theless it savors strongly of Western civilization. The 
stores, shops, and homes remind us of English cities. 
The schools and churches are modelled and conducted 
after European methods. Somehow the Anglo-Saxon 
blood is sure to win and triumph wherever it goes. 

But we must not linger on the coast of a country which 
far exceeds in area the whole continent of Europe, or 
one third of Asia, or one tenth of the habitable globe, 
and which comprises the largest empire that has ever 
been, with the exception of the Russian. 

As the new day is ushered in with the fairest morn- 
ing, we board a steamer just ready to start for Canton 
through the bay and up the Pearl River. The bay 
of Hong Kong is closely shut in by the mainland on 
the north and by encircling islands on the south. The 
land surface is lifted into heights and dropped into 
depressions. However, Oceanus and Phoebus are very 
propitious just now, though the sharp cliffs and crimpled 
rocks imply that Vulcan in the past has raged terribly. 
But to-day we can delight in these physical facts, feel- 
ing most grateful to Him who spoke and these won- 
ders sprang into being. As we approach the mouth 
of the river, the color of the water is in striking con- 
trast to the deep blue of the ocean. On leaving the 
bay we are reminded of the Danube as it enters the 
Black Sea, being broad and deep ; farther on we can 
but think of the Tiber, because of the yellowness of the 
water ; or of the Nile at Cairo, from its size ; or of the 
Hudson, because of the hills and picturesque scenery. 
As the steamer ploughs onward and the shores close in, 
we are reminded of the Rhine minus the castles. We 



158 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

are about three hundred miles from the equator, and 
are consequently in a tropical clime, where the sun 
varies but slightly in rising and setting at six o'clock 
the year round. The shores in places are lined with 
palm and banana trees. Sampans and junks dot the 
river as thick as the stars the sky in the clearest night. 
The natives in these are sifting the river with nets for 
fish. They are adepts at this business. They seem to 
think that w^hat they do not know as to the best methods 
of getting fish out of the water is not worth knowing. 
Some of them fish in the night as well as the day. In 
the darkness they frequently dispense wdth their nets, 
stationing a bright light in a boat, and then at some 
distance from it they play round in other boats, thresh- 
ing the water with paddles and bamboo-rods, frighten- 
ing the fish, causing them to rush towards the light and 
to leap into the boat containing it. The current of 
the river is strong. Occasionally we spy little villages 
nestled among the rocks along the shore. The hills and 
swelling lands in the distance are mostly shorn of grass 
and trees. 

Some thirty miles up the river, we see the hulk of a 
steamer which but a short time ago was burned, with 
five hundred Chinese. Strange that in waters no 
deeper or broader such a catastrophe should occur; 
but a people who are fatalists are prone to greatest 
mistakes in case of emergencies. 

The scenery now becomes softer, the meadows stretch 
far away, and tropical fruits are abundant. Nature has 
done her part to render this region most inviting. The 
immigrants who first selected it for a dwelling-place 



CHINA. 159 

showed a wise choice. This diversity and enchant- 
ment of scenery ought to have been proHfic in bring- 
ing forth poets and sages. 

When within four miles of Canton the steamer runs 
aground. The tide is out, and the captain says his boat 
will be delayed for hours, waiting for the rise of waters. 
It is but a few moments before the sampans are as thick 
around the steamer as hacks about the Great Western 
Station of London when the train has just arrived. 
Their managers are bidding fast for passengers to ride 
up town. Soon bargains are struck, and into sampans 
all are loaded. The travellers belonging to the coun- 
try have their beds with them. They know this is the 
only way to secure wholesome lodgings. Our boat is 
made of three wide boards, narrowed at the ends and 
bent together, and so fastened as to be water-tight. It 
has a covering of palmleaf over the centre to screen 
passengers from the sunlight. In the bow are two m.en 
and two small boys with long oars in hand ; in the stern 
there are three women, — one, perhaps, eighty years 
old, another forty, and another eighteen, — who are 
working back and forth with a chug a sculling-oar. 
They are obliged to struggle with their might to push 
the boat up stream. It is too bad for that aged woman 
to strain as she does. Only think of it ! This boat is 
the home of this family. It comprises all their posses- 
sions. In it children are born and the sick die. 

In the course of an hour after leaving the steamer, we 
are nearing the only hotel in the city where Western 
travellers can be accommodated. Now the river is 
swarming with sampans. We have heard it stated that 



l6o ROUND THE GLOBE. 

a fourth of a million of people in this city alone dwell 
in them. We cannot now for a moment doubt it, for 
the river here is a hundred rods wide, and brimful of 
these dirty, greasy things, as far up the stream as we 
can see. The aristocracy of this boat population live 
in junks which are usually large enough to carry thirty 
or forty tons' burden. Frequently we pass fancy-look- 
ing crafts ; these are called " flower-boats," and display 
brightest colors to allure the unwary within. Whited 
sepulchres surely they are ! So here, as well as in Lon- 
don or New York, the devil indulges in bright colors. 

As we are landed at the wharf in front of the hotel, 
we pass through a long basement passage and ascend 
a flight of creaking stairs, and behold ! we are in the 
principal hotel of the largest city in China, Well, as 
inspection goes on, it does not remind one of the Par- 
ker House in Boston, nor the Palace in San Francisco. 
It appears as though we had got into a barn for drying 
tobacco. But something answering to rooms is decided 
on, baggage is disposed of, and now we are ready for 
more sights. This city of more than a million and a 
half of people is divided by the river, but the larger 
part is on the opposite side of the river from the hotel. 
For the remainder of the day we will wander about in 
the western portion. A guide is secured, for it is not 
safe for strangers to attempt to thread these labyrinthine 
streets without a guide. As we go forth into the prin- 
cipal street, we observe it is not more than six feet 
wide, and overtopped with buildings from two to four 
stories high, constructed of brick and mud. Verily, the 
Chinaman here is down in the dirt and smeared with 



CHINA. l6l 

filth. He is dickering in knick-knacks and selling 
oranges, peanuts, and sweetmeats. We soon come to 
a rice-mill ; let us step into it and see how they grind. 
Just see those long, naked, bow-legged fellows ! They 
constitute the motive power. Four bowls of stone are 
set in the floor, each of which will hold half a bushel. 
These are nearly filled with rice, and over them are sus- 
pended large wooden mallets with long reaches, or 
handles. Now these grinders pull down on the short 
arm of the lever, lifting the head of the mallet three 
or four feet, and then letting it drop upon the grain, 
and thus they pound out the staff of Chinese life. To 
them the world has not stirred since Noah left the ark. 

We next enter a coffln-shop, where some carpenters 
are pulling the saw and the plane toward themselves 
instead of pushing them from them. They are hollow- 
ing out thick hard-wood slabs, so that four of them 
fitted and put together will not only be strong, but 
roomy and air-tight. The coffin for an average-sized 
man, when done, resembles the trunk of a tree seven 
feet long and a foot and a half through. For the or- 
dinary person it is left the natural color of the wood, 
but for the higher classes it is stained black and orna- 
mented with gold and vermilion. The Chinese believe 
in straight caskets for the dead, that they may not return 
to the earth crooked. 

Hosts of children crowd about strangers. They are 
neither comely nor polite, as in Japan. As you inspect 
them, you feel that it would be a great charity to take 
them to the river and give them a drenching and 
scrubbing. 

II 



1 62 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Before long we arrive at the temple of Honam, which 
is said to be the finest in the land. We are a little too 
late to hear the priests in their intoning service. The 
audience, which consisted of a few poor wretches from 
the outside world and half-a-dozen priests, who belong 
to the temple, and who take part in beating the drum, 
rattling the gong, and drawling out prayers, is just 
leaving the auditorium. They do not appear as if 
they had been engaged in any very devout worship. 
The doves and spiders have undisturbed liberty in this 
temple. The images of Buddha look as though they 
had been made before man had any knowledge of art. 

Leaving these shrines and dead gods, our attention is 
called to some religious hogs which are kept to do 
honor to Buddha; but we cannot discover that they are 
a bit superior to other swine. We now pass into a 
beautiful garden where flowers and plants thrive, whose 
leafage is trained into shapes of birds and beasts. On 
one side is a columbarium such as once existed in old 
Memphis or Pompeii, which holds the calcined bones of 
a multitude of priests that they may become purified. 
Nature is a beneficent agent, and has great pity for dirty 
humanity. 

The shadows begin to fall, and we bid the guide take 
us back to the hotel. We cannot take a straight course 
if we would. The alleys, or roads, are more tortuous 
than the course of the Meander River. But the hotel, 
is reached in safety. Here, in spite of rats and mos- 
quitoes, night gives repose and recuperation. In the 
morning, breakfast eaten, lunch put up, guide ready, 
a sampan is secured, and we cross the river. Two 



CHINA. 163 

girls are the propellers. The dwellers in the boats are 
all astir. Most of them are dexterously applying the 
chopsticks. Rice and fish constitute their breakfast, 
dinner, and supper. We are rowed to the island where 
the English-speaking citizens are quartered. Here are 
inviting lawns and groves ; turtledoves are cooing, and 
sweet-toned birds are singing. Dandelions are spotting 
the grass with gold. Here the foreign ministers and 
consuls reside. A short visit is paid to the American 
Legate, hoping to find letters to gladden the expec- 
tant heart. But after a brief and kindly interview, his 
office is left, the heart struggling to feel that no news 
is good news ; but the adage is pronounced false, and 
hurled to the wind. 

To know this city we must wander around and through 
it. It has a wall nine miles in extent round a portion 
of it, made of brick and from twelve to thirty feet high. 
As many dwell outside as within the walls. To make 
this trip in the quickest and easiest manner, let us take 
a sedan, which is the only vehicle that can pass through 
these narrow and incommodious streets. The sedans 
are selected, and three coolies for each sedan. Of 
course we take open sedans, and being seated and lifted 
upon the shoulders of the nearly naked carriers, off we 
ride to the Temple of Longevity, through streets not 
more than six feet wide, but brimful of fishmongers, 
roving swine, lounging dogs, dirty cobblers, and mov- 
ing throngs of Cantonians. In fifteen minutes the tem- 
ple is reached. After inspecting it somewhat closely, 
we know this is a farce, and decide that our longevity 
depends upon leaving it as soon as possible. 



1 64 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Now we proceed through no wider streets. Our cool- 
ies keep crying out at the top of their voices, and we 
wonder what they say, but conclude after a httle medi- 
tation that they are bidding the crowds " get out of the 
way, for the stage is coming." Just at this point we 
meet a long line of bonnetless women who are walking 
very slowly. We see they are tottling and swinging 
about, as though gravitation were playing tricks with 
them. These are some of the tiny-footed women, 
whose feet are not one bit larger than those of a child 
four years old. The better class of men show special 
regard to them, but they hobble along as though they 
found this a hard way to appear charming to the male 
sex. For three hundred years, it is reported, the wo- 
men of style have been doing this very thing in imita- 
tion of a club-footed queen that ruled over the Empire 
and was held in highest esteem ; and so ever since her 
death the women of China have been determined on 
being club-footed. The best we can say of them is, 
they show a deal of grit to endure such torturing. But 
how is this condition brought about? By bending the 
toes of the infant under the sole of the foot and swath- 
ing them there till they grow together and adhere. 
The Manchu women do not suffer their feet to be 
compressed. 

Soon our coolies drop us again right in the street, 
because there is no other place to unload, and we are 
obliged to scramble to prevent being run over. Our 
guide says, " Right in here to see the ox-mill ; " and be- 
hold, it is a busy place, where twenty oxen are walking 
round sweeps, turning seventy stones and grinding out 



CHINA. 165 

wheat and rice. This is the climax of milHng in this 
country, and the natives speak of it with as much pride 
as Corliss could of his magnificent engine. 

Our next search is for the Flowery Pagoda. The 
name, at least, is pleasing. The streets are both rough 
and smooth, being paved with flat stones and cobbles. 
We rejoice that our coolies are sure-footed, especially 
when we are on their backs. Soon the cry is, " Here it 
is ! " and down we go, and through a gate we pass, and 
with us more than forty boys. Now a priest steps in 
front of us, who looks as though he had been just dug 
from some ancient graveyard. He leads us round and 
round till the head begins to swim, and finally points 
up, and we can but exclaim, " Is that the Flowery 
Pagoda?" Why not call it by the right name? For it 
is nothing but a faded, dilapidated, old five-story tower 
that ought to have been burned a hundred years ago. 
A piece of silver is dropped into the hand of the old 
bonze, and away we go. 

In the course of ten minutes, as we move on, we 
come to something real; it is a funeral procession. 
Two men are ahead, each bearing a huge Chinese lan- 
tern inscribed with the name of the family of the de- 
ceased ; then follow two men with large gongs, which 
are beaten at intervals to give warning of what is ap- 
proaching; then come musicians, who blow furiously 
while the wind holds out; close upon these is a man 
with a flag, accompanied by one who scatters every now 
and then bits of paper, supposed to represent silver and 
,gold which will serve as passage-money to the deceased 
in the next world ; then comes the empty sedan ; after . 



1 66 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

this the son of the deceased; then the bier with the 
dead, on the shoulders of four bearers ; and lastly, some 
twenty mourners. These appear as though their hearts 
were stricken. They are going outside of the city for 
burial. The dead must be buried outside of the city, 
according to the custom, and the body entombed at 
just such a point of the compass; and when deposited 
with precision, a quantity of mock money is burned 
close by to satisfy the demands of the departed. 
When this is done the mourners return to their 
homes. 

We now hasten to the temple of Confucius, the only 
one in the city. Coming to the wall about it, we find 
the gate locked. The custodian is hunted up, who 
proves to be a woman with a large head and little 
feet. How she waddles and hobbles along ! The gate 
is opened, and as we walk through the yard, the temple 
and surroundings appear neglected. The building is 
not spacious or handsome. Passing within, we find the 
auditorium without seats or furniture. In the centre 
there is a large wooden statue of the great deist and 
moralist. Should he behold this image, he could not 
feel flattered. This temple is seldom visited, and is 
less often used for religious purposes. Confucianism 
has seen its brightest day in this land. 

We next come to the North Gate of the city; climb- 
ing to the top, we ascend still higher to the fifth story 
of a pagoda, where we have a fine outlook over the 
city and its environments. To the north is the White 
Clouded Hill, whose area is immense. No one can 
tell how many have been buried in that Silent City. 



CHINA. 167 

The graves of the poor are unmarked, but the ashes 
of mandarins and of the nobihty rest in semicircular 
tombs. The poor man is soon forgotten here, and the 
poor woman still sooner. 

Having surveyed the landscape and partaken of our 
tiffin, our steps are downward and downward for fifteen 
hundred feet, when we are again mounted upon the 
shoulders of the coolies, and away we move to the 
temple of the Five Hundred Genii. As the great door 
opens and we step within, surely before us there is a 
tremendous array of adipose bodies and fat red faces. 
In the centre of these portly fellows are three monstrous 
Buddhas, in a sitting posture and precisely alike. The 
guide points to one image, saying " Marco Paulo ; " and 
others say it was intended to represent the sainted 
Xavier, who once nobly wrought here in behalf of 
Christianity. 

After this we are taken to the place of the Holy Pigs, 
Ducks, and Fowls. One can have no disposition to lin- 
ger here, unless he is a Chinaman. The filth and odors 
beggar description. 

Hurrying on we soon hear an excruciating noise, 
and ask what that means. " Oh," the guide says, 
" that is a school ; " and so into it we pass. The 
room is dark and horribly dismal. In it are twenty- 
five boys, from seven to twelve years of age. They 
are studying aloud just as hard as they can ; they are 
doing it so powerfully as to turn their yellow faces red. 
They are studying the elementary classics of Confucius. 
The teacher is sitting in front of the boys, as stolid as a 
stone. He pays no attention to his visitors. We are 



1 68 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

not disposed to endure this bedlam very long. If yell- 
ing will purchase knowledge, this school will become 
masterly wise. 

Our guide says there is one other place of striking 
interest which we must not fail to visit. So we are hur- 
ried on till the Execution Grounds are reached. Here, 
we are told, three hundred criminals are yearly beheaded, 
and their heads are hung up on those stakes and pins to 
gratify the crowds that flock to witness these popular 
scenes. Another place which has strong attractions for 
the natives is the bastinado court, where the bamboo is 
applied to the backs of those given to petty crimes. It 
would seem that cruelty supplants mercy among the 
Chinese. Still they are not a warlike people, but they 
are strange; verily, they are Chinese from head to 
foot. 

As we return to the river and inspect the vast popu- 
lation jostling up and down on the waves, we should not 
infer, from the prevalence of dirt, that they lived near the 
water. As we observe them at their meals, their equip- 
ment at the table consists of a cup, a bowl, chopsticks, 
and an iron pan for cooking the rice, fish, and cabbage, 
all in one mess. The children in the boats are mostly 
nude, and the men and women are clad in trousers and 
loose frocks. 

As you study this people on shore or river, finding 
them in many respects so homogeneous, you can but 
ask where they originated. Listen to their answer, and 
they will try to convince you, from ancient inscriptions 
and odes, that they are the natural production of 
China. But recent investisrations and ethnoloeical 



CHINA. 169 

developments show that they belong to the yellow- 
Turanian stock, and so came originally from the country 
south of the Caspian Sea. Their history goes back 
nearly three thousand years, representing them as being 
early acquainted with astronomy, agriculture, and various 
arts. It does not speak of them as advancing from a 
rude state, but pictures them as in a civilized condition 
to start with. This certainly implies that they had had 
training somewhere before they came to this land. 

They are loosely built physically. The men are some- 
what under the medium size. Their heads will average 
as large as the European, but their temperament tends 
to grossness. Their skin is the color of parchment. 
Their heads are rather flat; their cheek-bones high, 
and their eyes dark and set obliquely. They shave 
their heads, with the exception of a patch on the crown 
which furnishes the hair for the conspicuous queue. 
Though the queue was forced upon them through a 
conquest as late as 1635, ^^'^ they realize that it is a 
troublesome appendage, nevertheless they dare not dis- 
pense with it. The women are small, having broad faces, 
stunted noses, and linear eyes. Their hair is combed 
straight back, and put into fantastic shapes upon the 
back of the head. The Manchu women do not indulge 
in the fashion of compressing their feet. 

The government of this people is patriarchal, and 
always has been. In their national life there have been 
many changes in the patriarchal line. So at the present 
the common belief is that there must be a revolution as 
often as every two hundred years. The country has 
been subject to good and bad rulers. It is a fact that 



170 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

much cruelty has been woven into the Chinese charac- 
ter. In the home the husband and father holds supreme 
authority. He must be first served at the table, and, if 
well-to-do, he must lie on a bed, while his wife and child 
sleep on the floor. The Chinese are not tender in their 
feelings, as is made manifest by their gruff and harsh 
voices ; even the intoning of prayers by the priest is 
like the grating of a saw. 

Would you know of their mercantile ability? Go 
into the main streets of a great city and you will find 
stores made of brick and roofed with tiling, two and 
three stories high ; enter these and you will behold vast 
shelves of silks for sale. The merchants move slowly 
but surely. They are glad to serve you, and as a rule 
they have but one price for their goods. In making 
change, they pride themselves on being correct and 
honest. They are experts in manufacturing silks. 

Next enter a lacquer-ware establishment, and in the 
front room you will meet with beautiful wares. Here 
they handle their goods with care, and extol them as 
the best made. To prove this they will wish you to go 
into a room in the rear of the store where you can see 
them manufacturing the genuine article. 

From this store pass to an ivory shop, and here you 
will meet with all sorts of curious articles ; and as you 
examine them, you will be ready to admit that the 
Chinese are geniuses. 

In another quarter you come to dry-goods stores, 
which are numerous and small. The cotton tunic here 
has been donned instead of the silk. The traders are 
bare-armed and barefooted, and more active than those 



CHINA. 171 

you have seen. For miles and miles in Canton the 
streets are lined with these diminutive stores. You 
can but marvel how it is possible for merchants to 
live and grow old, when so packed together. 

But what do these people eat? Inspect the meat- 
markets, and you will seldom see any beef; but slaugh- 
tered sheep, hogs, dogs, pigs, cats, and the like abound. 
In the fruit-market you will find grapes, oranges, pru- 
nellos, loquats, lemons, persimmons, tomatoes, radishes, 
onions, beans, peas, Irish and sweet potatoes. In the 
monger-stalls are a great variety of large and small fish. 
But, as already stated, the staple article here is rice, 
which is abundant and cheap. Wheat flour is used to 
some extent. Perhaps the most common article in the 
cuisine of this people is dirt. They cannot live long 
before they have disposed of their peck. 

China is the most populous country in the world. 
Though the land, susceptible of improvement, is gen- 
erally cultivated, still not enough is raised to support 
the people. The poor are beyond computation. 

It is said that there are forty-four hundred walled 
cities in the land and as many thousand hamlets. Still, 
they do not build for the ages. Let one be absent 
from the country for ten years and then return, and 
he would scarcel)' know it. However, in spite of this 
transitoriness, the nation survives, but does not ad- 
vance. It builds its houses, tills its soil, weaves its 
silk, cooks its food, as it did centuries ago. It is 
satisfied with its present condition, rejecting modern 
improvements. 

The Chinese delight in boasting of what they have 



1/2 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

done. They refer with pride to the great emperor, Shu- 
Hoang-Ti, who expelled the Moguls from the country 
and caused the Great Wall to be built two thousand 
years ago, extending fifteen hundred miles over the 
mountains. It is estimated that stones enough were 
put into this work to make a wall twice round the globe, 
six feet high, and two feet thick. They refer with pleas- 
ure to their canal, which extended two thousand miles, 
and was completed five hundred years ago. They claim 
to have printed with movable type and to have used the 
magnetic needle before the Christian era. 

The Chinese date the commencement of their Empire 
forty-one thousand years before Christ, and mention 
philosophers and heroes who lived twenty-seven hundred 
years ago. They claim that America was visited in pre- 
historic times by explorers from their country. If this 
be true, it is plain they have lost ground ; for it is 
reported that now not more than one man out of a hun- 
dred, and one woman out of a thousand, can read and 
write. In mental culture they are surely retrograding. 
When America was discovered by Columbus, they were 
studying astronomy and printing with block type. They 
were then, as now, an exclusive people. They would 
permit no stranger to land on their soil. They imagined 
that they had received universal wisdom from Confucius, 
whose writings, reduced to a kind of ancestral religion, 
they felt to be sufficient for all intellectual demands. 
They still cherish this idea, and so are anxious that their 
boys shall become adepts in the wisdom of their great 
sage. Though there is not a public school in the Empire, 
as we understand it, still they have schools in every city 



CHINA. 173 

and hamlet, sustained by subscription. As soon as the 
boy is born, his parents begin to plan his education. 
On his first birthday he is placed in a sieve, surrounded 
by money-scales, a pair of shears, a measure, a mirror, 
a pencil, ink, paper, an abacus and books, and then 
eagerly watched to see which he is inclined to take first. 
If he takes the scales, the pencil, or the measure, the 
parents are delighted, feeling this is an assurance that he 
will master the wisdom of Confucius, and experience a 
bright future. At six he is put into school, and there 
is kept till fourteen years of age. From six to eight 
hours daily he is drilled forty-five weeks annually in 
the first three classics, which are written in verse. 
As the Chinese language has no alphabet but four 
hundred and fifty symbols, which represent fifty thou- 
sand different meanings, he is required to learn char- 
acters and sounds first, or rather it is sound and 
memorizing altogether. The schoolrooms are noisy 
places. The pupils are inclined to be orderly; how- 
ever, in every school the ruler and rattan have a con- 
spicuous place. If these are applied, it is to teach 
filial obedience, as Confucius commanded. Let a boy 
be disrespectful to his father or teacher, and he must 
be punished with eight strokes of the rattan over his 
head, but for petty faults the ruler is applied to the 
palm of the hand. 

If the boy is successful in mastering the classics writ- 
ten in sentences of three characters, then he takes up 
the thousand-character -classics ; then follow in order 
the odes, the high learning, the golden medium, the 
sayings of Mencius, the book of history, spring, autumn, 



174 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

books of odes, and book of rites. These do not treat 
of grammar, mathematics, or science, and only in part of 
history; the rest concerns divination and the sayings of 
Confucius. 

The boy's object is to become fitted as soon as possi- 
ble to try his success in the competitive examinations 
which take place yearly in different districts. If he be- 
longs to Canton, he will try his luck there, where ten 
thousand competitors enter the contest for one of ninety 
chances to secure a State appointment to some office. 

Look into the grounds at Canton and see the arrange- 
ments for this time-honored custom, consisting of an 
area of some four or five acres, in the heart of the city, 
enclosed with a high wall of sunburnt brick. In the 
centre is the Examination Hall, not a spacious or beau- 
tiful structure. On the sides of the grounds are rows 
of brick stalls, each about three feet wide, five deep, and 
six high, open to the south, furnished with a board-seat 
and table. At the trial each student is assigned a stall, 
which he must not leave, under penalty, for twenty-four 
or forty-eight hours, according to the allotted task. 
Here he is required to write an ode or an essay, pat- 
terned after Confucius. 

At a given signal the papers are collected, marked 
only with the number of the stall. After these have 
been looked over and assorted, the numbers of the suc- 
cessful are called and publicly crowned with honors, 
and often are feasted at public expense. 

These graduates have the privilege of going on in the 
Confucian classics, and at appointed periods make three 
more trials in competitive examinations at Pekin for a 



CHINA. 1/5 

few possible degrees, or chances to be elected to high 
positions whenever vacancies shall occur. 

But after the climax is reached, what do the young 
men really know? If they have become classic book- 
worms of Confucius, they have not gained any practical 
common-sense. They have never read any but Chinese 
books. Their minds have been forced into one unyield- 
ing mould, as much so as the feet of the Mandarin 
women. So this culture serves to keep them un- 
changed. The present generation is bound to do just 
as their ancestors did. The medicine the fathers took, 
they are going to take, kill or cure. The sons are no 
wiser than their sires. They are reading the same 
books and travelling the same mental road, but do not 
keep it in repair : it is no longer fringed with flowers, 
but hedged with jungle. Intellectual darkness is grad- 
ually settling upon this people, once famous for their 
learning. However, there are hopeful signs, resulting 
from foreign settlements in a few places, from mission- 
ary enterprises, and particularly from the establishment 
of the Tung-wen College at Pekin. This institution has 
been in operation six years, and has won popular favor 
in the capital of the Empire. As the Chinese are edu- 
cated in it, becoming acquainted with science, philos- 
ophy, and literature, they break away from the old and 
lay hold of the new. Stimulate mind with thought and 
freedom, and it is certain to advance into more life and 
light. 

The large number of temples and joss-houses imply 
that the Chinese are decidedly a religious people. 
Their feast-days are many, but are at present more 



176 ROtTND THE GLOBE. 

devoted to sport and jollity than to seriousness and 
worship. But what is their religion? Judging from the 
greater number of their temples, you would infer the 
masses must be Buddhists. Still you seldom find them 
disclosing themselves as such. Perhaps, if they have 
been passing through fiery ordeals they will be seen go- 
ing to Buddhist shrines; or if they have some doubtful 
project in view and do not feel equal to the emergency, 
they may seek some temple for aid ; yet, if it is not 
granted in due time, by their maledictions you would 
not judge them very near the kingdom of heaven. 

At feast periods they frequently bear immense quan- 
tities of food to the altars of certain gods ; but this 
seems to be done because they are aware the gods will 
consume none of it and they will have enough to satisfy 
their hunger for some time. 

Enter the temple of the Genii at Canton and you will 
be greeted by close-shaven-pated priests who will lead 
you round among a mass of rubbish and finally present 
you to an enormous image of Buddha, and then you 
will be entreated for money with which to purchase 
joss-sticks to be consumed in honor of the prophet; or 
pass into the temple of the Five Hundred Wise Men, 
and, lo, you will behold five hundred sitting figures, 
representing the heroes of the land. If these are true 
to life, what a manifestation of adipose, what chops, 
what tigers' eyes, what greasy fellows ! The ofiscour- 
ing of the earth would be handsome beside them. 
Here, as the climax of their statuary, are three mon- 
strous representations of Buddha. Before these, poor 
VvTctches coming in for a moment bow with vacant 



CHINA. 177 

Stare and then dodge out. This, they feel, is paying 
full honor to their god. The place itself is dirty, and 
hung with cobwebs. 

If Buddhism ever had any spiritual life here, it ap- 
pears to have lost it. Of course, it must have excited 
enthusiasm in the past, or else its almost countless tem- 
ples never would have been built. However, but few 
are being constructed at present. The better informed 
are slow to own that they are Buddhists; nevertheless, 
they are fond of repeating the legend of Buddha's ori- 
gin, telling how two lumps of clay were mixed with 
blood and placed in a jar, and in an hour a man and 
woman came forth who soon begot Gautama in India. 
In his childhood he was taught the Sanscrit language 
an4 the "Sixty-four Books of the Immortals." One 
day in early manhood, as he was sitting under a ban- 
yan-tree, great light was thrown upon him and he 
became the Buddha. 

The sixth century before Christ was remarkable for 
producing sages who exercised great influence over the 
minds and religions of men. Pythagoras appeared in 
Greece, Zoroaster in Persia, Buddha in India, and 
Taotsze and Confucius in China. 

The leading factor in Taotsze's doctrine was that 
everything has its spiritual counterpart in this and the 
next world ; for this reason its chief service consisted 
in making offerings to the sainted, who would be de- 
lighted if they were properly made, or offended if they 
were neglected or improperly done. 

Tao had a large following, and at present the Taoist 
priests outnumber in China all others. Their gods are 

12 



1/8 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

manifold. Like ancient Greece, the nooks of the land 
are peopled with divinities. Taoists describe the next 
world as the shadow of this ; real bodies are here, and 
ghosts there. The priests of this sect now are mere 
fortune-tellers or jugglers. If trouble has come upon 
a Taoist, he sends without delay for a priest, Avho 
responds at once to the call, feeling he must drive 
from the sick or harassed man an evil spirit. So the 
priest grapples the demon; and if successful in mas- 
tering him, the sick or unfortunate one is restored ; 
otherwise the evil spirit has him for his own. If one 
dies without having any such assistance, the priest 
rings a bell over the corpse, puts a piece of money 
in his mouth, and, like Charon, tries to take the dead 
across the Black River to the mystic shore. Tao- 
ism has degenerated into the grossest materialism and 
foolery. 

Another religion that is met with here is Confucian- 
ism. Tradition says that in the first century some wise 
men of this country, having heard of the wondrous life 
of Christ, started for the far West to gain particulars 
of it, and on their way chanced to learn of Confucius, 
and took him to be the Christ, and imbibing his views, 
returned to introduce his doctrines among the people. 
They were gladly accepted by many. The Emperor 
and high officials were among the number, and the 
rulers have continued to be the followers of Confucius. 
The most magnificent temple in the Empire is the 
Kwotazekien at Pekin, which the present Emperor en- 
ters twice a year in state, and having twice knelt and 
six times bowed his head to the earth, invokes the 



CHINA. 179 

sage in these words : " Great art thou, O perfect Sage ! 
Thy virtue is full, thy doctrine complete. Among 
mortal men there has not been thy equal ! All kings 
honor thee ! Thou art the pattern of this Imperial 
School, Full of awe, we sound our drums and bells 
to thee!" 

On the same day in the spring and autumn the offi- 
cials in every city of the land are expected to go to 
their temples and worship the great sage. 

Confucius never denied the existence of God ; still he 
did not vouch for him. His concern was for man, be- 
lieving that he comes into this world so good and gifted 
that if he should do his best in the way of improve- 
ment, he would become " the equal of Heaven." He 
felt that man had innate powers by the right use of 
which he would reach the highest perfection. The pet 
idea or corner-stone of his doctrine is " Filial Piety," 
which means reverence to your human superiors. So 
this begins and ends with man; the highest being the 
most revered or adored. Accordingly, Confucius would 
be the one to be especially worshipped. Converse with 
those claiming to be his followers, and you will soon 
learn that they regard him as the wisest man that ever 
lived ; and so what he said and sanctioned are alone 
worthy to be received and cherished. 

So the Chinese of to-day are no more religious than 
were the Chinese of old. In fact, they have lost ground. 
Now it is religion with them to visit the tomb of Con- 
fucius at Kewfoo, or to gaze at a pagoda built to 
cover a bone or a hair of Buddha, or to perform a 
magical trick, or to throw a copper into the coffer of the 



l80 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

temple, or to hurl a paper gewgaw masticated into pulp 
at the face of a deity. The Chinese use their religion 
much as the diver does his bell, to venture into the 
depths of worldliness with safety, and then grope after 
sensual pearls. Their religion is a deal like their lan- 
terns ; when spread out they appear to be immense, but 
compress them and they collapse into insignificance. 

The Chinese are an agricultural people, and seem to 
delight in working the soil, which is generally produc- 
tive. In the south they take two and three crops from 
the ground each year, but in the north usually but one. 
Their beasts of burden are the buffalo ox, the pony, 
and donkey. Seldom are flocks or herds seen in the 
fields, or farmhouses scattered through the country. 
It is the nature of the Chinese to dwell in communi- 
ties, for they are very social. When they meet one 
another, they fail not to give a kindly greeting; how- 
ever, they shake their own hand, never that of an- 
other. They marry early; and it is understood that 
every man must have one son, either his own or one 
by adoption. They rejoice when a son is born, and are 
apt to lament at the birth of daughters. Their com- 
mon amusement is gambling and cock-fighting. They 
have been much given to war. The present reigning 
dynasty is said to be the twenty-sixth of the Manchu 
origin, and was established in 1649. They claim to 
have a standing army of seven hundred thousand men, 
a navy of thirty-eight vessels, and a war-footing of one 
million two hundred thousand soldiers. In spite of 
such statements they are not well prepared for war. 
They are greatly behind the times as to firearms and 



CHINA. l8l 

martial ordinances. They have little faith in modern 
improvements. Railroads are a terror to them, and 
opium swoons are their highest joy. It does seem 
too bad that one of the richest countries of the earth 
should be held by such bands of ignorance. The ruby 
and jasper and emerald and gold and silver and iron 
and coal and rosewood and camphor and ebony and 
ivory and cocoanut and pineapple and bamboo and 
rice and wheat, all imply that China should be one of 
the fairest and most civilized lands of the globe. But 
it is far otherwise, in spite of all that has been done 
by missionary effort, foreign instruction, or commercial 
intercourse. 



CHAPTER V. 

SINGAPORE AND CEYLON. 

THE steamer " Preussen " has had a fine run from 
Hong Kong. The Chinese Sea has been exceed- 
ingly propitious during the past three days and a half; 
and as the steamer swings up to the wharf of Singapore 
all hearts are delighted, and glad to have the opportunity 
of going on shore to revel among the luxuries of this 
tropical clime. The port, or bay, of this city is exceed- 
ingly inviting. It is well protected by islands on the 
south and west. The lands rise into mountains, green 
w^ith palms and bamboo trees. Now is the winter sea- 
son, and showers are so frequent as to make vegetation 
smile in richest beauty. / 

As anchors are being dropped and the ship strong^ 
moored, the passengers are amused and surprised at tne 
Indian boys who come around the steamer in their canoes 
ready to dive or plunge into the sea for five or ten-fent 
bits, as they are thrown into the water. Seldom, if jver, 
do they come to the surface without bringing the piece 
of money cast into the sea. To say the least, it piys to 
spend some money in this way, if for nothing else than 
to discover what practice has done for these jellows. 
As they come up from the deep, their blac^ skins 
glisten, the whites of their eyes are so strikingly 



SINGAPORE. 183 

white, and their lips are so ruby, we pronounce them 
handsome. Then, as they stand in their boats at times, 
we admire their fine forms. These fellows in this way 
in the course of twenty minutes earn several dollars, 
and prove themselves experts in the water. 

As we go on shore, we find the coolies and Indian 
men numerous and busy. Many of them have their 
little oxen in a long, straight yoke, fastened with ropes 
to the necks and hitched to a cart with big wheels. The 
driver goes between his cattle when moving off, and if 
the load is not properly balanced, he rides upon the 
tongue to balance it. The cattle are small, with humps 
just forward of the shoulders. They seem to work very 
kindly, and appear in good condition. The driver's 
whip is light, and seldom applied. He makes no noise 
in teaming. These natives are mostly naked, having 
on simply a strip of drilling about their loins. They 
are quite slim and tall, — really good-looking and grace- 
il in movement. 

The hacks, too, are numerous. This is something 
nw in these Eastern lands. In Japan the carriage in 
geeral use is the jinrikisha; in China it is the sedan; 
ba here, as in Paris or Boston, the hacks are on every 
hari. But the horses are ponies, though of a larger, 
variy than the Shetland. These little horses are fleet 
and trong, and many of them are very handsome. 
The rivers are mostly coolies, and dressed with trou- 
sers, d.oose tunic, and a turban of various bright colors. 
They .-e jolly chaps, most of them, with glistening eyes 
and pe-ly white teeth. They are sharp in driving bar- 
gains, £d will get the better of you, if they can, every 



1 84 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

time, Hackmen are known not so far from America, 
who are similarly inclined. 

The city of Singapore is three miles from the port, 
connected with it by tramway. The road is smooth, 
and lined with abundant vegetation. The highway is 
filled with teams bearing burdens to and fro from the 
storehouses and vessels. This city of a hundred and 
sixty thousand inhabitants has grown up mostly since 
our war. It is true there was a village here as long 
ago as 1850. When Major Studer, our consul, came 
here twenty years ago, where the best part of the city 
stands, it was all a jungle, — the habitation of monkeys, 
wild beasts, and huge serpents. Now it has already 
become one of the most important seaports of the 
great East. 

The island on which it stands is Malacca, twenty miles 
long and fourteen wide, separated by narrow straits 
from the productive island of Sumatra. It is an inde-/ 
pendent settlement, with a total population of some fou/ 
hundred and fifty thousand, composed of Malays, Ii 
dians, and Chinese. In fact, it is one of England's pc 
sessions. Many English, German, and other West/n 
foreigners are settled here, carrying on the commei^e- 
The houses are mostly bungalows, presenting a fa?as- 
tic appearance ; still, there are many fine residence^nd 
inviting homes, reminding the Westerner of En/and 
and the United States. / 

The public buildings are truly English. The/ourt- 
house, town-hall, post-ofifice, and custom-house ^ sub- 
stantial and beautiful. The commercial squa^ looks 
out upon the sea, and is adorned with a statel/statue. 



SINGAPORE. 185 

The Buddhist temple and the mosque of Mohammed 
are here. 

The stores of the natives are disorderly inside and 
outside, and the merchants act -as though they had not 
yet learned the meaning of civilization. Barbers are 
doing their shaving on the sidewalks, and some of the 
women are washing their dishes and clothes in the 
ditches. Here we see what we have not seen else- 
where, — travelling restaurants. As we inspect them, 
we have no desire to taste or eat. As we are passing 
we see blacksmiths hard at work, tinsmiths soldering, 
cobblers drawing the wax-end, carpenters pushing the 
plane, tailors cutting and sewing, women spinning and 
weaving, policemen (white and black) patrolling the 
streets. You see merchants here from all the coun- 
tries of the East. As a rule, the different nationalities 
are exceedingly clannish. There may be a necessity 
for this which does not appear on the face of things. 
However, this exclusiveness is almost certain to breed 
jealousies. Class ideas and feelings can never level 
up society; they pull in the wrong direction. This 
expressed itself in the police court, as we witnessed 
the examination of some sixty men, women, and 
boys, who had been arraigned within the last twenty- 
four hours, and most of them for petty violations of 
law : the larger number had been thieving ; some had 
been driving fast, some . indulging in sensuality; but 
not one was before the tribunal for drunkenness. Dur- 
ing the examination the court-room was filled with 
visitors. As cases were heard and sentences and fines 
declared, it was plain that there is a disposition on the 



1 86 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

part of those in authority to crowd upon the lower 
classes. The way things are done, tells. If the spirit 
is right, the rich and poor will be fairly dealt with, and 
the final results will prove satisfactory. 

In the suburbs of the city and even miles out there 
are villas beautifully situated on hills and embowered 
in vines and trees. In places, as we are riding along, 
the atmosphere is laden with sweetest perfumes. The 
birds, too, are pouring out their sweetest strains. The 
plumage of some of these songsters is brilliant. Little 
monkeys are skipping about on every hand. The fruits 
are just in their prime; the cocoanuts, dates, bread- 
fruit, and oranges are hanging ripe in the top of trees. 
Tea and coffee plants are in blossom. Two miles from 
the city is a botanical garden. The grounds are hand- 
somely laid out with roads and lawns. The plants in 
the conservatory are almost countless. The variety 
of ferns is very full, and many of them exquisitely 
fine. The garden has a great variety of surface, and 
is well furnished with water. In one of the lakes the 
Victoria lily is in full blossom, and several lotuses are 
in bloom. The tropical plants cannot help flourishing 
here, for as it is only eighty miles from the equator 
and close by the sea, its temperature is very even 
the year round. Here is a banyan-tree twenty feet 
in diameter through its trunk, but this is not so grand 
a tree as the redwood of the Sierra Nevadas. The 
locking together of the branches and the numerous 
bodies by roots growing down from the limbs for 
support affords a good rendezvous for serpents and 
scorpions. 



SINGAPORE. 187 

It is a surprise to find so many of the natives speak- 
ing the English language. So it is all through the East. 
It would seem that this is soon to become the common 
tongue of the whole globe. Really, one needs no other 
now, to travel in all lands. 

It is stated that the Christian religion is making rapid 
progress here. The leading Protestant church is the 
English, although the Presbyterian is strong; but of 
the Christian sects the Roman Catholic outnumbers 
all the others. Their forms seem to fascinate the 
natives. The Buddhist and Mohammedans are strong, 
if you judge from numbers; yet it is a fact that the 
former is fast becoming a dead letter; its followers 
believe in little or nothing but fate. They regard the 
priest as a sort of fortune-teller; and so when con- 
science is smiting them terribly, or they have some 
doubtful scheme in hand, they go to the altar or to 
the priest, hoping this may prove a lucky experiment, 
and promising, if they are successful, they will do great 
things for their religion; but if they fail in their pro- 
ject, then curses and blasphemies are showered upon 
church and priests without stint. The Mohammedans 
are far more honest and sincere in their religion, and 
very tenacious of their views. They are ready to give 
all they have, if they can only make a pilgrimage to 
Mecca. This they believe will fit them for paradise. 
Quite a deal of interest is expressed in education by 
the foreign population. 

But now, after these outings and gathering up of facts, 
we are pleased to return to the noble " Preussen " and 
speed on through the straits of Sumatra. As the sun 



1 88 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

glows and cooling breezes bring their tonics, the green 
hills and fair seas present a charming landscape. It 
would be difficult to find a more inviting picture. In the 
halls of memory will be hung henceforth fairest views 
of Singapore and its surroundings. 

The Indian Ocean abounds in rich islands, but among 
the richest and greenest is Ceylon. It has been rightly 
christened " the gem of the Eastern Seas." From 
whatever direction you approach, it rises above the 
waters like a chief of fairest proportions swaying his 
sceptre aloft upon the insular height over the deep 
azure below. 

■ The island is fringed with an emerald border, and 
carpeted with greenest palms and tropical plants. Tra- 
dition and history speak of it as the ancient Ophir and 
Tarshish. Who can guess, then, the deeds that have 
been wrought upon it, or the men that performed 
them? It is plain that when Wijags captured it in 
543 B. c, it was known as Serendib, and was rich in 
rubies and pearls. Buddhism was introduced into it as 
early as 307 B. C, and at Anarayapoosa, the ancient 
capital, the Bo-tree, Buddha's, is shown and reported to 
have been planted 288 B. C. 

It is said that the kings were early wont to send 
gems and pearls from this land to the princes of Hin- 
dostan. Because of its wealth, it has been coveted by 
different nationalities. The old Greeks and Romans 
sought it. The Arabs clutched at it. The Portuguese 
seized it in 1505, and held it for a hundred and forty 
years ; and then the Dutch came this w^ay and seized 
it, holding it for a hundred and fifty years; and after 



CEYLON. 189 

this the English laid their hands upon it, and still hold 
it in their grasp. 

Landing at Colombo, its capital and chief seaport, 
we discover ships in the harbor floating the flags of all 
parts of the world. Large blocks or storehouses line 
the shore for quite a distance. Before advancing far, 
we learn from the stir and the modern structures that 
this is no insignificant mart. It has a population of a 
hundred and twenty thousand. Scotch and English are 
the leading people, and look as they are wont in their 
own land, save that they are attired in white. But the 
natives attract special attention. Among them the 
Singalese constitute the aristocracy. Tall and lean 
they are, with copper-colored skins. The men are 
dressed in loose trousers and frocks, with bare feet, and 
heads thickly set with tortoise-shell combs. The coolies, 
who outnumber the rest and are the laborers and ser- 
vants, are nearly nude, having only a strip of cloth about 
their hips. They are moving about with little oxen in 
a long yoke, attached to a big cart, or are driving 
" hackories," each drawn by a single bull, or are bear- 
ing burdens on their backs, or digging in the dirt. 

The soldiers are conspicuous here, as they always are 
under the English flag. As you pass along the side- 
walks, you will be entreated to enter this and that 
jewelry store to buy precious things. Stepping into 
the average one, you find many pretty articles made 
from tortoise shells and pearls, while the eye is almost 
dazzled with the brilliants. The sapphires, rubies, 
topazes, garnets, and amethysts set in gold are be- 
yond counting, and they say that they are very cheap ; 



I90 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

but on inquiring the price you will be told about six 
times what they expect to get for their merchandise. 
To say the least, it is difficult to leave these fascinating 
things without investing somewhat in them. The Eng- 
lish tourists are sure to buy diamonds, but they seldom 
really get the genuine article ; however, it is all the same, 
if they paid a large price. 

Colombo is spread out over an extensive area, and 
most of the dwelling-houses are embowered in palm- 
trees. They are built of brick, mostly one story high and 
surrounded by verandas. In this hot climate the people 
wish to get as close to the ground as possible, so their 
houses are in the form of bungalows. Some of the 
villas are marked at their entrances with the most clas- 
sic names. On a few of these streets one would almost 
imagine he had got into ancient Athens or the city of 
the Caesars. The site on v/hich the city stands is very 
level, and in its centre is a large artificial lake. So sur- 
rounded and divided by water, it is a very damp town. 

The missionary is here, under the auspices of differ- 
ent churches. In numbers, the English Church takes 
the lead ; but they will not have it much longer, if the 
Methodists continue to work as they have worked. The 
Presbyterians present a good showing, and the Baptists 
are doing a fair work. The Romans and Greeks are 
here, and the Salvationists as well. The latter are 
under able leaders, and are having surprising success 
among the natives. This is not only true of them in 
Ceylon, but in India and other lands of the East. The 
two men in charge of the work here are graduates from 
Oxford and Cambridge. They seem most devoutly 



CEYLON. 191 

consecrated to their mission, being dressed like the 
natives and Hving as the natives do. They are Wes- 
leyan in behef, and stanch temperance men. 

We find three colleges here, which are well patronized. 
Public schools, however, are wanting. They have 
what they call Government schools, but these are 
tuition schools, aided somewhat by the State. The 
feeling is rife among the English subjects that the chil- 
dren of the natives are really better off without an edu- 
cation than they would be with it. What a mistake, 
what a wrong ! 

The climate is such as not to favor hard mental work ; 
so the island can never be renowned for high scholar- 
ship, unless it is the result of immigration. The 
museum erected by Governor Gregory is a stately 
building, and well filled with a variety of specimens. 
The relics from the old capital are superb, showing a 
style of art different from that of the old Greeks or 
Egyptians. 

But what interests a stranger most are the natural 
products. The variety of palms is complete. There 
are even forests of cocoa-nut palms. These are full of 
fruit now. Just look at that tree, which is a foot through 
at the butt and fifty feet tall, topped with its crown of 
wide leaves, close under which are some twenty large 
cocoanuts. This is the favorite tree among the natives ; 
for it furnishes bread and milk for their tables, oil for 
their lamps, timber for their houses, wood for their fires, 
matting for their beds, and will exchange for all other 
essentials in life. The date-palms and banana-trees are 
hansfinsf full of fruit. 



192 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

A (ew miles from the town, the rice-fields are waving 
with a rich harvest, which is the staple of the natives. 
These occupy the lowest ground, for they must be cov- 
ered with water while the crop is growing. Still farther 
on and up, we come to tea, coffee, cinchona, and cinna- 
mon plantations. 

The tea is produced on plants which have been grow- 
ing three or more years. They have been pruned into 
bushes which are some three and four feet apart. 
The leaves are of a very dark green. Women are 
scattered through the plantation, culling and picking 
the leaves. They are careful not to take off too many. 
In this island they gather the leaves every day; that 
is, they begin on one side of a field working to the 
opposite, and so by the time they get round, the plants 
first picked are ready to be picked again. This is black 
tea ; and so is all tea when picked ; however, the ten- 
derest leaves are gathered when they are to be so dried 
and chemically changed as to have a green color. The 
oldest plants produce the best tea; and here it grows 
even to an elevation of six thousand feet. 

The coffee is produced from a larger plant, yielding 
fruit once a year, as our pears and apples do. But 
the coffee plants are failing here, from the fact that a 
fungus has attacked the stems, soon killing them. Great 
failures have taken place here on account of this pest. 

The cinchona-trees are about the size of our small 
fruit-trees. These are not much revenue, because of 
the abundance produced here and elsewhere. Cinnamon 
grows in the form of bushes, and pays the gardener 
well. 



CEYLON. 193 

The surface of Ceylon is greatly diversified. The 
outcropping stone is mostly granite. The hills and 
mountains are strangely piled up, representing every 
imaginable shape. In the rocks and along the rivers 
the precious stones are found. The only coarse min- 
eral of commercial value is plumbago. Along the 
shores pearls and beautiful shells abound. 

Not more than half of the land surface, as yet, is im- 
proved. Jungle holds sway over some of the richest 
portions. In these wild woods we may find very valu- 
able trees, such as the ebony, sandal-wood, and cala- 
mander, used for cabinet and ornamental purposes; 
the India-rubber tree is also common. In these wild 
realms elephants, bears, lions, tigers, and deer roam 
at their pleasure. It seems strange it should be so, 
in a land about the size and shape of Ireland, having 
a population of three millions. While the island has 
many rivers and some high and large waterfalls, it has 
no natural lakes ; those that do exist have been dammed 
back by artificial means. 

The birds are plentiful and full of song. The notes 
of some of them are equal to those of the nightingale. 
It is said there are more than three hundred varieties 
in this island alone. In places where we have been 
in the morning and evening, it would seem almost as 
though we had got into a paradise, the air would be so 
full of sweetest strains. 

But the phenomenon of animal life here is the period- 
ical flight of butterflies, which takes place twice a year, 
at the beginning of the monsoons. In the spring the 
insects are yellow, and in the early winter they are 

13 



194 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

brown. From all over the land they come together; 
mounting up in one immense swarm, they fly against 
the monsoon. They are as extensive as the largest 
flocks of pigeons in the West, or the swarms of locusts 
in Palestine, The flight lasts for days, and then they 
are gone, and no one is able to tell where. But others 
are sure to come as the years roll round. They do 
no harm. 

Ceylon abounds in reptiles. There are some sixty 
species of snakes. Some of these are large enough to 
crush elephants in their folds, and others have deadly 
fangs. So in this land of verdure and beauty there 
are drawbacks. Should you be here during one of 
their average thunder-storms you would be likely to 
feel the very heavens were being broken in pieces. 
The thunder is often terrific, and the lightning of the 
fiercest character. These showers, too, come often in 
the rainy season. 

In paying a visit to Kandy, which is an old city up 
among the mountains, seventy miles from Colombo, 
we enjoy some of the most picturesque views, as the 
train climbs up and then descends. The lofty sum- 
mits, the deep vales, the bared rocks, the green fields, 
the precipices, the rushing streams, the foaming wa- 
terfalls, the folding of the hills and mountains to- 
gether, the craggy sides and serrated tops, the flicker- 
ing shadows, the clear sunlight, the winding train, the 
going in and out of tunnels, all serve to present en- 
chanting pictures, such as only the great Artist can 
paint. 

In Kandy we find a quaint old town of some ten thou- 



CEYLON. 195 

sand inhabitants, living much as their ancestors have lived 
for centuries. Here is one of the uninjured Buddhist 
temples. Ceylon is regarded as the most classic ground 
of this religion. Here and elsewhere are remains of 
temples from one hundred and fifty to four hundred feet 
high. The temple here was built to hold the tooth of 
Buddha. In the old capital one was constructed to hold 
Buddha's tooth; another his collar-bone; and another 
called the Brazen Palace, was nine stories high, stand- 
ing upon sixteen hundred pillars. 

It is estimated that one million seven hundred thou- 
sand of the inhabitants are Buddhists, and five hundred 
ninety-five thousand are Brahmans. Now these people 
have no Sabbaths, but festal days, at which time they 
may bow before some image, or throw a coin at the 
face of Buddha, and then turn away to sport and have 
a jolly time. The devil-dancers command more atten- 
tion than the ordinary priests. Judging these religions 
by their fruits, we see they are failures, or rather they 
have dragged the people down instead of elevating 
them. The devil-dancers among these orders number 
some two thousand. These fellows become skilled in 
twisting themselves into all sorts of shapes, while beat- 
ing themselves and making the most horrid grimaces. 
Conjurors and astrologers, too, thrive among these peo- 
ple. So while we may delight in the natural beauties 
of this land, and admit that it is a gem in azure set- 
ting, we are troubled and pained to find so many of 
its natives degraded. It would seem as if there were 
something in the climate enervating and destructive to 
religious growth. 



196 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

The Protestant Missions count in their ranks sixty 
thousand converts in the whole island ; but a large ma- 
jority of these could not bear the Christian test. Still, 
it is a great blessing that the missionary is here, doing 
the best he can. He is deserving of our prayers and 
financial aid to speed him on in his exalted work. One 
thing is certain, this land can never become morally 
and mentally beautiful except through the power of 
Christianity. It can quicken mind and heart. It not 
only makes the face fair, but the heart sound to the 
very core. It is not enough for a country to produce 
precious stones, but it is sufficient for it to produce 
perfected characters. 



CHAPTER VI. 



INDIA. 



A LL on board the " Rosetta" are extremely happy; 
-^^- for we are leaving the Indian Sea, so often subject 
to typhoons that tear in pieces stanchest crafts. The 
voyage thus far from Ceylon has been propitious. Not 
a ripple is to be seen, save those made by the tiny flying- 
fish as they dart out of the water and spin over its sur- 
face, or by the floating turtles as they kick and dodge 
out of sight. The sun has just turned from his farthest 
southern sign and entered the constellation Pisces. It 
is that part of the solar year in which the people of 
India feel it is good to be born and blessed to die. 
This is the season to marry and make merry. The 
gates of Swarga are now wide open, and there is no 
waiting of souls in darkness before they pass into light. 
It would not be thus, if the sun were measuring his 
longest and hottest days. This is the time when the 
beads are placed upon the young Brahman's neck; 
when new clothes are donned, and friends mutually 
indulge in sweetmeats and sesame cakes. 

We are sailing up the Hoogly River, which is one of 
the outlets of the great Ganges. Its waters are yellow 
with sediment, signifying that the Himalayas and high- 
lands of India are gradually being borne on to the sea. 
So it is: change is the order of this world. On either 



198 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

side of us now is the country in which Menes legislated 
2188 B. C. Possibly he was the same monarch who had 
distinguished himself in Egypt. In 1772 B. C, the 
great Sesostris, King of the Nile, invaded it. After this 
Bactrian and Median kings possessed it. In 522 B. c. 
Darius Hystaspes subdued it. In 325 B.C. the mighty 
Alexander marched into it. In 170 B. C. Antiochus 
laid claim to it. Afterward history is nearly silent 
as to this land, until the Mohammedans invaded it in 
A. D. 1 193. Thenceforward it has been subject to fre- 
quent changes. At one time John II. of Portugal pos- 
sessed it.' Afterward Tamerlane subdued it; and later 
the English came in possession of it, and still control 
it. As we now look out upon its surface, we see as far 
as the eye can reach only one extended plain. Were 
it not for the palms and bamboos, it would, indeed, 
be monotonous. Large areas are occupied by jun- 
gles, where the lion, tiger, and cobra reign. Reaching 
Diamond Harbor, twenty-one guns are fired on shore, 
according to the custom, which is a welcome to this 
land of many nationalities. At length James and 
Mary Bank is passed in safety. Officers and passen- 
gers rejoice when this is over, for many a vessel has 
been swallowed up in these whirling sands. Crafts of 
varied description are now floating on the river. Soon 
the eye is delighted with the gardens of Oudhs which 
run close down to the water. Next come the fine Ori- 
ental Steam Navigation buildings. Hamlets now dot 
the shores, nestled under knots of palmyra-trees. Now 
the dark groves of the Botanical Gardens are seen on the 
western bank. Soon our steamer is moored at a wharf 




THE JUMNA MUSJID, DELHI. 



INDIA. 199 

before we reach the city of Calcutta, which is the Liver- 
pool of the East. As we ride across its esplanade, in 
front of temples, palatial structures, an equestrian statue, 
and a lofty column, we are disposed to say, If the Eng- 
lish found this a city of bamboo and mud huts, they 
have changed it to stone and beauty. But advancing 
into the old parts, it would seem they are still as they 
have been for ages. Looking at the crowds moving 
along the streets, we marvel whence they all came. 
There are Arabs from Muscat, Persians from the mouth 
of the Euphrates, Afghans from the northern frontier, 
coolies from Zanzibar, negroes from Malay; also Chi- 
nese, Fakirs, Sepoys, and Europeans. Though they are 
so unlike as to faces and forms, still they apparently 
move on without any jarring. As we witness the stir- 
ring multitudes, we can scarcely imagine how so much 
flesh and blood can be supplied with the necessaries of 
life. For the most part, they do not indicate a high 
state of living. The bare legs and arms of many of 
them show more bone and muscle than fat. This does 
not seem strange, as we are informed that but few of 
these men can command more than ten cents a day, or 
some four dollars a month. 

The head-dresses and garments are of many and 
bright colors. Some of their foreheads are marked with 
red or white paint, to signify their class. The women are 
adorned with rings on their toes and fingers, in their 
noses and ears, and with bangles round their wrists and 
ankles. In places of business, wherever it is possible, 
the people are sitting on their legs and feet. It ap- 
pears natural for them to squat. The Hindu life 



200 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

is a fixed factor. The motley population do a thou- 
sand things as they always have been done. The unclad 
merchant still posts his accounts with a reed on a long 
roll of paper. The barber shaves his subjects wher- 
ever he finds them, even if it be in the ditch. The 
shampooer does his work of snapping the joints and 
greasing the back on the sidewalk. The Gura drones 
out his Sanskrit to the boys sitting in the sand ; the 
Bansula-player pipes ; the zither-singer twangs his wires ; 
worshippers bathe in the Ganges and throw water at the 
sun, or deck Signus with flowers, as their ancestors did. 
The boy must work as his father wrought; were he a 
cobbler, so must the son be. Should he fail of this, 
then he loses his caste and must descend to some lower 
occupation. Even the children must eat what their 
parents did, and as they did. No Brahman can sit at 
the table with a European. The laws of caste here are 
as unyielding as those of the Medes and Persians; pos- 
sibly they are the offshoots from them. The vehicles 
for transportation are sure to attract attention. The 
carts drawn by hump-backed, patient little oxen, or 
jingling Johnny steers trotting before the hackories, are 
certain to amuse the stranger. Then the palanquin, 
borne on the backs of four coolies, which is just large 
enough for a man to crawl into and remain in a lying 
position, is not likely to make you feel as though you 
would be pleased to ride in that manner. The hacks, 
buggies, and tramways remind you of home. The bare- 
limbed Indian girls glide along with baskets full of 
" bratties " of cow manure on their heads, with naked 
babies astride their hips; and the "Cheesties" go about 



INDIA. 201 

with water-skins sprinkling the streets. Bhangy coolies, 
with heavy burdens attached to the ends of bamboo 
rods and balanced on their shoulders, go trotting along 
as though stepping on eggs. The street scenes reveal 
as much of human nature as can anyw^here else be 
learned. The street life in Calcutta is novel and often 
surprising to the foreigner. 

In every open space, save on portions of the espla- 
nade, the date-trees wave their fronded crowns, sheltering 
the squirrel and the parrot,- and overtopping many a 
bungalow. The gray-necked crows are here in multi- 
tudes, ready to catch at every piece of food that is 
thrown into the street. The hawks, too, swing above 
the city, blowing their shrill whistles. There is abun- 
dance of life, aside from the human, in this great capital. 
Particularly in the night-time, if not properly guarded 
by nets and drugs, you are certain to be bled by insects 
with sharp and deep-penetrating blades. 

One cannot remain here long without discovering 
that the cow is held in highest veneration. None but 
the Benjasas among the natives will allow this creature 
to labor. She is suffered to wander whither she will, even 
if it be into the shop or house. The Brahmans will go 
hungry themselves rather than not have the cows prop- 
erly fed. Everything that comes from them is consid- 
ered sacred. So girls follow them to gather up the 
droppings and plaster them on walls and in conspicuous 
places, using them for fuel in cooking, that the ashes 
may be mixed with coloring powders to mark the fore- 
heads, necks, and arms of pious Hindus. India does 
not change, so far as the natives think and do. Their 



202 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

castes bind them fast ; and these are reHgious, or under 
the control of priests. Here, as elsewhere in India, the 
Brahmans take the lead ; but the Jainas, who are Buddh- 
ists and noted for their costly temples, have strength ; 
the Sikhs, whose religion is a mixture of Brahmanism 
and Islamism, have considerable influence ; the Mussul- 
mans are strong; the Thugs, who believe that robberies 
and murders are under divine direction, fill a niche here. 
These different sects are distinct, and have as little as 
possible to do with one another. Their costumes and 
the seals on their foreheads indicate their religion and 
rank. 

The masses are grossly ignorant, and rely upon the 
priests for direction; and yet these are illiterate with 
few exceptions. Five times a day the Brahmans and 
Mohammedans repeat their prayers. The former bathe 
in the Ganges, or in tanks of water taken from the sa- 
cred river, once or twice, and many of them five times, 
between sunrise and sunset. 

As we visit the principal Brahman temple at ten 
o'clock in the morning, we find it crowded with wor- 
shippers. Men and women of all ages and conditions 
are here. This temple has been dedicated to Siva, the 
god of destruction. It is really a cluster of buildings, 
made of stone, with steeples expressive of taste and 
beauty. But oh the jumble, the confusion, the wretch- 
edness ! We had little dreamed that such a state of 
things could still exist. Here we look through a dark 
avenue of stone, and, lo, there is the image of the god 
they worship. Its swinish chops and snakish eyes pre- 
sent a horrid aspect. Can it be possible that human 



INDIA. 203 

beings are bowing before that frightful object? Yes, 
by the thousands daily. In one of the courts fort>^ kids 
have already been sacrificed this morning to atone for 
the sins of miserable wretches. Just now two more in- 
nocent creatures are led hither. The slayer is at hand, 
a swarthy-looking fellow. A woman takes the goat, and 
slips its neck down between two standards ; and now the 
executioner lifts his heavy blade and severs the head 
from the body, looking around, as much as to say, 
"Was not that well done?" Upon this about twenty 
women scramble and clutch for the different parts. 
The dogs are here to lap up the blood. As we observe 
the sacrificers, their faces are serious, and their mien 
implies, " There, it is done ; we are glad to be free from 
smiting consciences." Perchance these pilgrims have 
walked a hundred miles to secure this requital of some 
terrible wickedness. The blood of the kids will be 
mixed with sacred ashes, and the priest will put a daub 
of it on their foreheads, between the eyes, and then they 
will return home with joy and thanksgiving. Such is 
the experience almost every day of the year at this 
temple and at thousands of others in the land. Lepers 
and beggars are here in throngs. Some have come 
with their beds, it would seem, to stay. Why, look at 
the vermin on them ! They do not believe in taking 
the life of any living thing, unless it be as an offering to 
Brahma or some of his deities. Only see the poor 
coolie on that bed in a nude state. He has been forced 
by one of a higher caste, who is the owner of the bed, to 
lie there for hours to feast and satisfy the hunger of the 
animal life, so that by and by the owner can retire and 



204 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

remain at ease. How gracious and humane is such 
conduct ! Still it is religious in this land. 

As we go to one of the Ghat cremation-places we 
meet with a lot of hangers-on, who advance toward 
every new-comer with pieces of bone, hoping to obtain 
a pice or more for the same. This place has been 
supplied by the Government, with two others, to meet 
the demands of the city. Formerly the dead were 
thrown into the river ; but as this practice was forbidden 
by the Government, the corpses were taken to the 
banks of the river and burned, the ashes being thrown 
into the sacred stream. But this proved to be a great 
nuisance ; and so three buildings have been erected at 
the expense of the Government, requiring cremations 
within the city to take place in these. To our surprise, 
as we pass behind the building, we find two piles of 
wood burning in the open air and a human body being 
consumed on each. Burning in this way is barbarous 
in the extreme. We had expected to see kilns and 
grates for cremating ; but instead, the bodies are handled 
by these roughs, and poked about as though they had 
served no high purpose. While observing these sights, 
a father brings in his arms the remains of his infant to 
be consumed. He seems very tender of the little body, 
and we are unable to understand how he can consign 
the same to these apparently indifferent coolies ; but he 
does so, turning away in tears. 

Under a porch close by is a young woman, said to be 
in a dying state by her priest, who has been hurried 
hither, so that as the breath should' leave the body it 
might be all ready for burning. 



INDIA. 205 

Such are some of the scenes in this capital city, that 
show the condition of society. The bonds of caste are 
as of iron, firmly riveted upon the people. 

Possibly the English Government, from the fact of 
its class idea, is not doing the work which ought to be 
done in regard to this great incubus. 

In the line of public improvements great progress has 
been made, so that we can but wonder, as we look at 
the Post-Office building (which covers the " Black 
Hole" of Calcutta, where one hundred and fifty-six 
persons were nearly suffocated in 1756}, the Gover- 
nor's residence, the market, the museum, the telegraph 
building, the city building, the court-house, and the 
large merchandise blocks, that there should be such 
grand structures in the midst of such a population. Of 
the one million people less than twenty thousand are 
Europeans, illustrating the fact that it is brains, not 
hands, which rule the world. There is evidently here 
a king behind the throne, or business affairs would not 
move on as they do without any apparent friction. 

The complaint is general that the times are dull and 
hard. The remark is often dropped, " You Americans 
played the mischief with us after your war in producing 
so much cotton. We cannot grow it as cheap as you, 
and so we are made to suffer at your hand." It is 
now very dry here, for no rain falls from the first of 
November to June. The seasons are three, — the cool, 
the rainy, and the hot, — but Americans would be likely 
to say there is but one, and that one hot ; for now it is 
the cool season, and yet, in the middle of the day, it 
is like our hottest weather in August. 



206 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

The English meet with great drawbacks on account 
of the castes and the languages ; for the Hindi, Hin- 
dustani, Bengali, Tamil, Canarisi, and Marathi are all 
spoken, besides the English, German, French, and Span- 
ish. This motley confusion of tongues works against 
the progress of education. While the English is gaining 
ground slowly, it must be a long while before it can be 
the language of the land. It is said that not more than 
one out of fifty among the natives can read and write. 
So mental darkness is still lingering here. It is true 
there are what are called government schools, which 
signify that they are in part only supported by the Gov- 
ernment. There is no such thing as compulsory educa- 
tion here. Really the Government does not believe in 
it. It spurns the idea that educated labor is the cheap- 
est in the end. 

Labor is cheap ; the carpenter, tinsmith, and brick- 
layer command about twenty-five cents a day. 

Because of the cheapness of labor, manufactures are 
being rapidly introduced into the country. In the sub- 
urbs of this city there are several jute or paper mills 
and cotton factories. In the country there must be 
toward a hundred of the latter. 

The Government, owning the soil, raises most of the 
revenue from the land. For a few years past the expen- 
ditures have exceeded the income. This makes many 
of the people restive and dejected. Even some of the 
natives declare that they are now taxed beyond endur- 
ance, and that, if there is not a change for the better, 
another rebellion, or mutiny, will be the result. The 
present Viceroy is endeavoring to increase the revenue 



INDIA. 207 

by increasing the sale of liquors. This is producing 
drunkenness to an alarming extent, rendering the na- 
tives poorer, and forcing a great drawback upon those 
engaged in manufacturing, for labor is not so reliable 
as it was before the introduction of alcohol to the 
country. 

Two daily and several weekly papers are published in 
this city. However, outside of the white population, it 
is rare indeed that you will see one reading a book or 
paper. 

The different club organizations are strong, but 
allow no natives to join them. It is surprising how 
far apart the different castes really live, though they 
dwell close together. Could this be broken down, 
India would have a bright future before her. But as 
it is, it is difficult to guess what twenty or thirty years 
may develop. 

It is a fact that the population is rapidly increasing, 
but the natives are becoming poorer. This order of 
things cannot long continue without disastrous results. 

If the soil is rich, the climate is too hot or too dry to 
allow the highest civilization to reign here. This me- 
tropolis would not compare favorably with Boston or 
Chicago as to thrift and enterprise. Talk with the 
business men and they will not express themselves as 
though they are here to stay from choice, but hope 
at length to return to their mother-land. 

The botanical garden, the museum, the colleges, and 
benevolent institutions speak well for the city. The 
Protestant Church edifices, according to their number, 
are on a par with those of any Christian country. But 



208 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

horse-races, not churches, draw here. Though the 
Government does what it can to have Sunday properly 
regarded, yet it is a business day and a hoHday too. 

However, since it is a fact that the strongest forces 
work in silence, and that ruling minds are those of whom 
the noisy world hears least, we can hope that a bright 
future awaits this land and this metropolis. Christian 
education alone can render this city of the plains most 
attractive and beautiful. 

The polar star is dipping far down to the horizon as 
the train leaves Calcutta for Benares. The clock strikes 
the hour of nine before the whistle blows the signal for 
departure. It is full moon, and the night is almost as 
the brightest day. A soft vestment appears to be thrown 
over the face of Nature. It is really beautiful, as the 
cars wind along the Hoogly River. The monsoon is 
blowing strong from the northeast, tempering the heat 
of the day into a balmy tonic. Somehow Somnus early 
lulls and binds many of the passengers fast in sleep. 
In spite of the rattling and jerking of the train, refresh- 
ing rest is enjoyed, and as the morning comes roses and 
violets are strewn thick in the path of the sun. As the 
train halts near a grove of palms and banyans, the birds 
are vying with one another in sweetest orisons. A happy 
change has come ; the dead level about the metropolis 
of India has given place to hills and mountains, the 
flanks of the vast Himalayas. Some of these heights 
are garnished with stately trees, and their bases enam- 
elled with greenest meadows. Plains are waving with 
wheat and rice. Here and there shepherds are leading 
out their flocks of goats and herds of cattle, as the sun 



INDIA. 209 

« 
rises over the hills. A hamlet is close at hand, fronted 

with a few respectable buildings and backed with a 

cluster of bamboo and mud huts. The dark skins and 

bared limbs of the thronging men and women add pic- 

turesqueness to the panorama. Surely this morning 

proffers splendid experience. 

As the train rushes on, it is not long before the Gan- 
ges is reached, — the river so sacred to the Hindu, who 
finds it no task to travel a thousand miles to bathe in 
its waters, or to die on its banks that his mortality may 
be borne on its current into eternity. It must measure 
in width as much as fifteen hundred yards. It is a 
majestic river, running fifteen hundred miles from the 
Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. It has its origin near 
sacred shrines, and so is called " Sacred Ganga." Now 
for a long distance the track is across wide-stretching 
plains, and for the most part they are cultivated, grow- 
ing palms, wheat, rice, cotton, tobacco, and mangoes. 
Occasionally acres upon acres are red with poppy 
blossoms. Now and then jungles hold the supremacy. 
Some of these districts of wildness and savage luxuriance 
are terrible, covered with poisonous trees and brush, 
woven and matted into darkest shades, where serpents 
crawl, tigers sleep, and deathly diseases reign. 

Then, again, tracts of inviting lands are seen, where the 
plough never has turned a furrov/, waiting to be stirred by 
human hands that they may give forth abundantly of 
their hidden treasures. Frequently there are valleys 
hollowed out by inlets to the great river, whose banks 
are painted with the liveliest green, eddies fringed with 
white and blue lotuses, and waters rippled with swim- 

14 



2IO ROUND THE GLOBE. 

ming birds. Just penetrate these wild retreats and they 
will be found crowded with life. Peacocks will rise 
from the tall grass, giving a splendid exhibition of shim- 
mering green, purple, and gold ; the sand-grouse will 
sound its signal and whir far away ; the ibis and stork 
will be wading in the shallow waters ; thrushes will twit- 
ter in the thickets ; gazelles will skip across the open 
spaces ; the ground squirrel will chatter and dodge 
into its hole, and jackals will yelp in the dusky air. 

While we are prospecting, meditating, and marvelling, 
the day is fading, the train halts, and the cry is heard, 
" Benares ! " This is the long looked for Mecca, the 
classic city and ancient seat of Brahmanism. So here 
we are on the site of the old city of Kasi, founded 
1600 B. C. and situated along the banks of the Ganges. 
Here the shores of the river for three miles are lined 
with stairs, shrines, and temples, established by wealthy 
rajahs, bankers, and merchants, where throngs of wor- 
shippers are daily bathing. 

It is early morning, and now we secure a boat, a 
guide, and oarsmen, that passage may be made up and 
down the river for some three miles, that we. may gaze 
at temples, shrines, and strange religious freaks and 
performances. The river here is perhaps three hun- 
dred yards wide. Verily, this is the stream of which 
Brahman poets have sung, as Virgil sang of the Tiber, 
extolling its waters. As the rising sun gilds spire, 
dome, and river with gold, the picture is resplendent! 
Multitudes are already in the tide waist deep, or rush- 
ing down the steps, or thronging along the shore. It is 
a strange religious sight. The sexes are about equally 



INDIA. 211 

divided. They have come from far and near, decked 
in every conceivable variety of costume. Each caste 
has its own shrine and post for bathing. How they 
keep flocking down the embankment! Every one has 
his offering in hand to be cast into the Ganges; the 
sick, the lame, and the aged are being brought to the 
river's edge, that they may touch or be laid in its 
waters. All are anxious to get into the river; all are 
sure to immerse themselves. As they rise from the 
water, their faces are turned to the sun, their lips move, 
and they toss handfuls of the sacred water to it. Large 
umbrellas are erected in the mud where the water is 
shallow, inscribed with " Ram, Ram," under which are 
groups of devotees, repeating, no doubt, hymns and 
prayers from the Rig- Veda. The sick folk seem to be 
resting on the shore of the " Ganga " as though lying 
on the bosom of the tenderest mother. On one ghat 
is a pile of the dead who have been brought hither to 
be burned near the rippling tide, on a funeral pyre fired 
by the droppings of the cow. The mourners appear 
happy now, since their departed can cross the Ganga to 
the Gate of Swarga, the home of the blessed. As the 
flames char and devour the motionless flesh, there is no 
shrinking or shrieking of the kin. It is astonishing how 
these serious, contemplative Hindus bow to the trying 
providences of life ! 

As the guide points out the different sections and 
castes, and a closer inspection is made, almost every 
spot is marked by some reputed miracle. At the Rao 
Sahib Ghat is pointed out the t^'gy of Brahma, which 
is washed away annually and at once is restored. At 



212 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the Reclar Ghat is the miraculous " Well of Gauri," 
which is believed to cure all diseases. Here, too, is 
pointed out the strange " Mansarovar Stone," that en- 
larges to the size of a millet seed daily. At the Bhrai- 
rava Ghat peacock fans can be secured which are 
warranted to sweep away evil spirits. Then comes the 
silver-faced goddess who protects against the small-pox, 
and this leads to the " Well of Knowledge," which is 
crowded full of votive offerings. A little higher up is 
the chapel where wives earnestly pray for promising 
boys ; after this comes the shrine of Annapurna, the 
goddess of plenty, who never allows famine to visit 
Benares. So it is a perfect wilderness of sacred places, 
objects, and services. To have a clear comprehension 
of them one must go among them. The whole is a 
conglomeration of Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, and Jain 
temples, palaces, halls, and arches; some are ugly, and 
others are beautiful ; a few are clean, but most of them 
are filthy. 

As the performances are watched, the questions arise, 
Is this display the offshoot of Brahma, who was believed 
to have neither temples nor altars, and is far removed 
from the worship of men, remaining in calmest repose? 
Do the people still hold, as in Vedic times, that Brahma 
created men to be divided into castes, — that priests 
came from his mouth, soldiers from his arm, traders and 
peasants from his thigh, and the conquered races from 
his foot? Do they address themselves to the same 
gods, — fire, storm, earth, dawn, sun, moon, and sky? 
Do they still believe that the priests alone know what 
food to eat, what air to breathe, what clothes to wear, 



INDIA. 213 

and what is just the size of the ladle out of which to 
drink? Do they regard Vishnu as the preserver, and 
Siva as the destroyer of life ? 

We now ascend long flights of stairs, through dirty, 
narrow, thronged avenues, into temples and palaces, 
listening to myths and traditions connected with this 
and that place, till at length the Cow Temple is 
reached, where there is the greatest uproar; and as a 
peep is taken within, what a sight! Behold half a 
dozen cows, a hundred women and men, the floor cov- 
ered with offal, hands and faces daubed with the same. 
The women are the most enthusiastic devotees. One 
can have no disposition to tarry long here. From this 
stall we proceed to the Monkey Temple, where are found 
half a hundred of these cunning, capering creatures, 
acting no more religiously than other monkeys, though 
occupying this temple consecrated to their supposed 
divinity. An entrance fee is demanded at the door, 
which is at once exchanged for some sweetmeats to be 
given to these exalted creatures ; accordingly, on enter- 
ing, the monkeys are found waiting and expecting a 
feast ; as the bag of condiments is emptied, what bound- 
ing, clutching, fighting, and squealing for the greater 
share ! The fray having subsided somewhat, two women 
bow before a shrine as in prayer. This service is in 
secret; but whether it is to Brahma, the monkey, or 
its ancestors, will remain a mystery. 

In this city there are more than five thousand tem- 
ples and pagodas built by native princes, besides two 
hundred and seventy mosques erected by the emperors 
of Delhi in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 



214 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

On an average, one hundred human bodies are burned 
here daily, and their ashes thrown into the Ganges. 
Many of these remains are brought from afar. 

Benares is rich because aged and weahhy Brahmans 
have been wont to come hither with their gold and sil- 
ver to spend their last days. The best Brahman schol- 
ars dwell in this city. It is their Oxford or Heidelberg. 
Here Kapila expounded Sakya-Muni's philosophy, Gau- 
tama the Pali system, and Panini wrote his Sanscrit 
grammar. History has been made here, and so it will 
continue to be sought and revered. 

As the narrow streets are traversed and the people 
carefully observed, it soon becomes apparent that the 
modern Brahmans fall far short of those who for- 
merly dwelt in this city. The idea that the departed 
are to live passing through the monkey, the cobra, and 
the cow, to be ultimately absorbed into Brahma, is not 
calculated to speed souls on to the highest civilization 
and spiritual life. 

The order of development seems to be the lower or- 
ders first, and the higher last. Mosses were fashioned 
before roses, Brahmanism before Christianity. Out of 
the ruins of the old springs the new. 

A Sanscrit College is in active operation here, 
founded in 1792; a Government Normal School, estab- 
lished in 1856, is doing well; a Church Missionary Col- 
lege, started in 18 14, is thriving; and a Baptist Mission 
has just dedicated a new chapel. These are the silver 
linings to the dark clouds ; they are the bow of promise 
arching the dark river. 

A day's ride farther and higher into the country lands 



INDIA. 215 

US at Lucknow, — the Concord or Lexington of India. 
It stands on a plain reaching far and wide, overtopped 
with domes, minarets, and towers. It shows Httle signs 
of antiquity. It was founded at the time our indepen- 
dence was declared. The soil is rich, and the country 
around is most productive. The stranger on entering 
the city must be struck with the smooth roomy roads. 
The dwellings are set far back from the street, with 
beds of flowers in front and fenced by thriving hedges. 
It is evident at once that the English mind has con- 
ceived and wrought here. How true it is that every 
nation has its signs and symbols ! 

One of the first objects to attract attention is Caesar's 
Garden. A wonderful gate opens into it, inscribed with 
the arms and name of Wajd Ali Shah, who caused it 
and the pile of buildings about it to be constructed. 
Indeed, the king was lavish with his money in making 
an outward show. Now the whole is in ruins because 
of the meeting of inimical forces in 185 7- 1858. The 
palace and mosque were riddled by shot and shell, 
and finally taken by the English and used for a hos- 
pital. Here it was the brave Havelock breathed his 
last, and his ashes rest in the rear of these splendid 
ruins. 

Another remarkable building is the Imaumbarra, 
dedicated to the founder of the city and styled by 
Bishop Heber "a cathedral." It is a picturesque series 
of courts and tessellated structures after the Saracenic 
order. It contains a hall a hundred and sixty feet 
long, which was once adorned with a silver throne, but 
now is used as a jail. What work war is sure to 



2l6 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

produce ! How it wastes and mutilates the costly and 
the beautiful ! 

Another striking building is the Chutter Munzil, with 
its curious domes. It was once a harem, but is now 
used for a club-house. Its reception-room, with mar- 
ble floor, figured arcades, and glittering chandeliers, is 
enough to prove that it was unique and elegant. Half 
a mile to the west from the Munzil is the Residency, to 
which the English repaired at the breaking out of the 
rebellion in 1857. It stands on the highest ground in 
the city, and consists of a collection of stone structures 
intended for a fortification. Here for weeks and weeks 
the English women and children were obliged to remain 
in the cellars, while the men did the best they could to 
withstand the daily attacks made upon them. Here the 
brave Lawrence was killed by a shell on the 4th of July, 
and here Major Banks fell on the 25th of September. 
The Residency now is a mass of ruins. Many a nook 
and corner bears record of bravest deeds. Could the 
stones only speak, what stories they would tell of 
noblest heroes and heroines ! Near by is a silent 
city of the dead, where ofBcers and privates of the 
English forces lie buried. At present, where the 
earth was torn up with shot and shell, parterres of 
flowers are smiling and trees are waving branches of 
peace. 

Not far from the Residency is a museum filled with 
Indian relics and new inventions, doing honor to the 
city. The colleges, banks, government-schools, and 
Protestant churches lend strong attractions to Luck- 
now. As you pass through the streets of the old city, 



INDIA. 217 

you find them narrow, with the shops crowded together. 
The chief business is confined to working in brass. The 
many curious manufactures imply that the workmen may 
possibly be descendants from Tubal Cain. The caste 
idea is rife here, as elsewhere in the land. This ex- 
presses itself by the white, red, or blue mark on the 
forehead. This people scorn to believe " in the sur- 
vival of the fittest." The women are loaded down with 
rings and bangles on their hands and feet. The English 
settlers are taking the lead in the affairs of this city of 
more than two hundred thousand inhabitants. There 
are no indications now that there will ever be another 
mutiny in the city of Lucknow. 

At mid-afternoon the train is taken for Cawnpore, 
some forty miles in a westerly direction. The railroads 
are owned by the Government, and run by English offi- 
cers ; so in style and management they are English. 
The speed is seldom more than twenty-five miles an 
hour. The villages passed are made of sunburned brick 
and mud. The people at the stations are quiet, and not 
given to m.uch talk, or improprieties of any sort. Water 
is carried round and sold at every station, and in some 
instances sweetmeats and refreshments. 

Towards sunset our way lies through a broken coun- 
try sparsely covered with tamarinds, peepuls, banyans, 
and camel-thorns. As the train glides along, wild 
peacocks are seen flying from copse to copse, and 
in the opening gulches water-birds rush out of sight. 
Approaching the Ganges again, oleanders perfume 
the breezes, and the last rays of the sun drop gold 
and rubies in showers upon the water; and the 



2l8 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

announcement is heard, " Cawnpore ! " This is another 
city that suffered terribly in the late mutiny. Its 
population numbers one hundred and fifty thousand, 
and is so much given to cotton manufactures as to be 
called the Lowell or Manchester of India. It is a stir- 
ring town, but not a beautiful city. In the south part is 
a memorial church m.arking the site where many Eng- 
lish soldiers were enticed to death by Nana Sahib, the 
captain of the mutinous Sepoys. The church is an 
elegant stone structure, whose walls within are hung 
with mural tablets inscribed with the names of daring 
soldiers who stood in Wheeler's entrenchment for days, 
defending the British flag, till nearly every man fell a 
victim to Nana's treachery. This church is a fit monu- 
ment to patriotic and loyal lives. 

A mile to the eastward is the famous and fatal Suttee 
Ghat, on the banks of the Ganges, whither Nana in- 
duced a host of English men and women to come and 
take boats for Allahabad, where they would be certain 
to find security. But when they had all arrived and 
were in the boats ready to start down the river, a se- 
cret force of Nana's soldiers opened fire upon them 
and all were killed save four officers. The place is now 
desolate, and Nature is apparently resenting the awful 
slaughter committed there. 

Near the centre of the city is Memorial Garden. 
Upon first entering its grounds one is ready to exclaim, 
" Charming ! Beautiful ! " The garden is divided up 
by walks and roads, and adorned with the greatest 
variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees. Near the centre on 
a broad mound stands a marble monument, consisting 



INDIA. 219 

of a circular wall thirty feet in diameter and twenty feet 
high, mounted with serrated and finely cut trimmings. 
As the door is opened, lo ! within is a statue of a woman 
whose attitude and countenance are most expressive of 
submission and heartfelt regret. The artist who con- 
ceived that must have been familiar with grief and the 
inner working of the human soul; spirit must have 
been far more to him than matter. It is a touching 
elegy in stone. This monument marks the well into 
which Nana caused more than a hundred women and 
children to be thrown, as he heard that a recruit of 
English soldiers was approaching, thinking by such 
savage cruelty to intimidate the incoming braves. Ah, 
he did not know them then as he did afterwards ! The 
horrors of that mutiny can never be fully described. 
The English own these grounds and keep them in order, 
as a memorial of heroic suffering and valiant deeds. 

A part of a night's ride under the blazing stars lands 
us at the fair dawn in the city of Agra, the favorite 
city of Islam, or the Mecca of India. At once the Taj 
is sought, which is two miles from the station. It is a 
feast to ride when the morning air is fresh and brac- 
ing. The distance is overcome almost too soon, and 
we are in front of the Taj Mahal, the unique sight of 
the city, — a mausoleum built by Shah Jehan in honor 
of his lovely queen, Moomtaza Zumanee, whom he con- 
sidered the light of the world. Seen from a distance it 
is a graceful structure of polished marble, as fresh as 
though built but yesterday, and yet it is two hundred 
and fifty years old. It is said twenty thousand Italian 
artists worked upon it twenty years to make it complete. 



220 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

The grounds and tomb add charms to each other, and 
the words over the doorway are in the highest degree 
appropriate, — " The pure of heart shall enter the 
Gardens of God." 

Place this mausoleum on the desert and it would 
render the surroundings beautiful. Walk about it and 
inspect its parts and it seems immense ; some of its 
stones are ten, twenty, and thirty feet in length. As the 
portal opens you read on the threshold, " To undying 
love; " and as you step within, what tracery, what 
columns of alabaster, what arcades, what jewellery meet 
the eye ! The screens, panels, and tracery are inlaid 
with the most precious stones, forming flowers, leaves, 
branches, and scrolls inscribed with passages from the 
Koran. There is nothing dark or doleful about it; 
verily, it savors more of life than of death. Let your 
speech be soft and melodious and it is caught up and 
echoed back to you in sweeter harmony than it went 
forth, as though Israfil, who is the sweetest intoner 
of Allah's choir, had responded, " Come up higher." 
Under the exquisitely wrought screen is the marble 
casket of the beloved " Queen of the Palace." Her 
ashes occupy the centre. Close by is the marble 
casket of Shah Jehan, marked by more prominent 
stones, because he was emperor and lover. He built 
this tomb, not for himself, but for his devoted and 
sainted wife, whom he could not retain on earth, but 
whom he could immortalize in the midst of things most 
beautiful ; and because of his devotion to the noble 
woman, his courtiers tenderly placed his remains close 
to those of his beloved. Thus rest the ashes of Nur and 




THE TAJ MAHAL, AGRA. 



INDIA. • 221 

Shah Jehan in the whitest and most translucent tomb 
of all the earth. Yes, here it stands on a terrace of 
marble four hundred feet square and sixty feet high, 
with a temple a hundred and ninety feet square, having 
a minaret at each corner a hundred feet in altitude, and 
a dome over the dead two hundred and sixty feet high 
and seventy feet in diameter, made of the rarest mar- 
ble and the most precious stones, at a cost of fifteen 
millions of dollars. It is kept so still, so clean, so 
white, being fringed with the fairest of gardens, that 
as we stand admiring it in silence, we half feel it is 
not of earth, but celestial. 

There are other splendid tombs in Agra. That of 
Akbar would attract and be greatly admired were it far 
away from the Taj Mahal. The same is true of the 
mausoleum of Itmad-ood-Dowlah. The Moslem resting- 
places of the distinguished dead are what render Agra 
fascinating not only to the Mohammedan, but to all 
lovers of cultured art. 

This city stands on the Jumna River, a large branch of 
the Ganges ; and as this stream is followed northward, it 
is found to be bordered by some of the richest lands, 
abounding in sugar-plantations, thrifty mango-groves, 
extensive wheat-fields, orchards of palms and oranges, 
and countless acres of poppies. In the lowlands are 
to be seen any number of ibises, swans, pelicans, and 
rice-birds. As one journeys in this country he can 
realize its grandeur and vastness as he surveys it from 
north to south, from east to west. It is larger than all 
the Pacific States and Territories, and contains four times 
as many people as our whole Republic. Many indica- 



222 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

tions on every hand give assurance it is an ancient land. 
Its history reaches back fourteen hundred years before 
the Christian era, asserting that it was settled by Aryans 
speaking the Sanscrit language. Its surface varies from 
the lowest to the highest altitude. It is largely divided 
into table-lands from one to four thousand feet above 
the sea. In the north granite is exposed ; in the middle, 
trap, slate, and sandstone. Where the soil is good, it is 
very good ; and where it is poor, it is very poor. Dense 
forests and jungles are common. Its highest and lowest 
portions are destitute of animal and vegetable life. The 
lines mapping out the richest harvest and the charms of 
spring and summer are lower than the Himalayas and 
higher than the desert of the Indus River. Midway be- 
tween these extremes are the flowery plains and the 
vine-clad hills and mountains. Here is where the bees 
cup the honey and the sleek herds feed, and these are 
places the Muses and Graces haunt. Parnassus is not 
one half as high as Olympus ; nevertheless, the fig-tree 
dots its sides and the heather crowns its top, while ever- 
lasting cold broods over the summit where it was be- 
lieved the great Jupiter had his abode. So human life 
is not found in the marshes by the sea nor on the 
heights of Everest, but on the table-lands midway 
between ocean and sky. 

But now we are eight hundred miles from Calcutta 
and seven hundred miles from Bombay, in the city of 
Delhi, where once stood the largest city of Hindostan, 
the capital of the great Mogul Empire. In its glory it 
numbered two millions of human souls, and had a cir- 
cuit of twenty miles, while the modern city has a popu- 



INDIA. 223 

lation of only two hundred and fifty thousand ; and its 
walls of red sandstone are seven miles in extent, forty 
feet high, and four feet in thickness. The new city 
is quaint. The main streets are stirring with business 
at high noon. The windows of the shops are filled 
with silks, jewelry, and paintings on ivory. The cos- 
tumes are of the brightest colors of cotton and silk. 
The people are tall and slim ; divided into many classes, 
though moving in the same highway, still they keep 
as separate as possible. Their dress, movements, and 
work show them to be fond of art. Tanga dawks, 
drawn by little oxen, are numerous ; these are the 
vehicles in which the commonalty ride. Throngs of poor 
women with bags of dried brash of the cow are hurry- 
ing about to suppiy the demands of the Brahmans, 
who will do their cooking only with this sacred fuel. 
There is a strange commingling of white and tawny 
faces in the open square, but everything moves on in 
perfect order. Strong English forces are encamped 
within and without the city. 

But the object of special attraction is the Palace of 
the Great Mogul, the most unique structure in India. 
It was built by Shah Jehan in the seventeenth century, 
on the banks of the Jumna River, being, grounds and 
all, one and a half miles in circumference. In its Audi- 
ence Hall formerly stood the throne, which cost thirty 
millions of dollars. It was .composed of two peacocks 
of gold with spread tails filled with sapphires, emeralds, 
rubies, and diamonds, having a parrot cut out of a solid 
emerald suspended over it; and overtopping the whole 
was a canopy of beaten gold supported by twelve 



224 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

columns of solid gold. Nothing in old Rome or Athens 
could have equalled this palace. Over one of the arch- 
ways are written these verses in Persian, — 

" If on the earth there be a bower of bliss, 
That place is this, is this, is this, is this." 

Near the hall is the Pearl Mosque, an exquisite shrine 
in which the great Moguls were wont to worship Allah. 
There the Baths of Akab are a curiosity as well as a 
wonder. But no longer do Moguls bask in the splen- 
dors of this marble paradise. Its gold and precious 
stones have disappeared, and the last occupant died a 
prisoner at Rangoon ; and at present Victoria's ensign is 
floating over the cupolas of the principal gateway. 

The most prominent building in •Delhi to-day is the 
magnificent mosque, Jumna Musjid, the largest mosque 
among all the nations of Islam. This was the delight of 
Shah Jehan, and was believed to contain the Prophet's 
slipper and a hair of his mustache. Its towers, domes, 
minarets, and tracery are of a high order. 

As you pass through the gates of the city, you are 
impressed with a feeling of grandeur. Go to the east 
and south and you are in a district thickly sown with 
wasting mosques, tombs, and arches. As the eye 
looks through the branches of the trees, it discovers 
wildernesses of broken domes and columns, telling of 
departed splendor. Monkeys are dodging about in the 
trees or chasing one another on the ground. Parrots 
are flying hither and yon, talking loudly, as though re- 
vealing the tales of a wondrous past. Four miles out 
and your attention is called to some fellows on the roof- 



INDIA. 225 

top ready, for a few assoras, to leap forty feet into a 
pool of filthy water. You may purchase the plunge 
once, but you would turn away from the second with 
pity, regretting that poor mortals are forced to secure 
a living in such a manner. Turn aside a little, and 
you can enter the tomb of Jehanara, made of the whitest 
marble. The screen around the sarcophagus is as beau- 
tiful as one could wish. From this silent place you 
must not fail of passing to the tomb of the poet 
Khosrau, greatly admired for his " Majnun and Leila." 
Worshipper after worshipper comes in and lays an offer- 
ing of flowers on his alabaster casket. How true it is 
that the real poet lives, though his form has mouldered 
to dust ! Still farther on, there is the monument of 
Safdar Jung, a grand memorial to human greatness. 

Now turning to the south you come to the observa- 
tory of Jey Singh, with massive gnomons and astrolabes 
of m^asonry. This is no mean work, and possibly speaks 
of star-gazers before Homer sung or Moses legislated. 
Onward you move among broken shafts and crumbling 
tombs till you arrive at the Kutub Minar, a fluted pillar 
that rises aloft two hundred and forty feet, constructed 
of the whitest marble and the reddest sandstone. The 
second story of this marvellous work is belted with 
" The Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of Allah." It is 
said, Sultan Altamsh caused it to be built, that his 
daughter might daily ascend to its top and enjoy an 
outlook over Delhi which she greatly admired. As you 
observe its conical shape, soaring rose-red and lily-white 
into the deep blue, you can but exclaim, " Wonderfully 
beautiful ! " Hard by is an iron pillar, twenty-two 

IS 



226 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

feet above the ground and twenty-eight below, which 
is related to have been set up to pin an imaginary ser- 
pent, King of the Nogos, to the earth. Here too, is a 
mosque of Kutbu '1 Islam, which is described as having 
been built out of twenty-seven Hindu and Brahmanical 
fanes of old Delhi. This temple affords a strange com- 
bination of mythology and Moslemism, of polytheism 
and monotheism. Apparently there is no end to these 
ruins ; you may walk or ride among them for days and 
even weeks, and old things will keep springing to sight. 
Thousands of stately structures must have been scat- 
tered over this plain. Five or six successive cities have 
risen and fallen on these grounds. The ruins of Delhi 
report a long line of fallen dynasties and wasted 
empires. 

Now our course is west and southward. If Punjaub 
and Oude are the classic provinces of India, Rajpootana 
is the district of romance and chivalry. In passing 
through the latter, the traveller finds things quite un- 
like what he has experienced in the former. There are 
wildness and heraldry here that did not express them- 
selves there. How singular such striking differences 
should exist, even in adjoining counties ! But India is 
a land of oddities and contrasts. There are as many as 
a dozen distinct languages spoken in the country. The 
people differ widely in looks, size, and manners. 

Rajpootana is rich for the most part, the surface 
broken and in sections mountainous. Occasionally 
antelopes may be seen wandering in herds, and cranes 
wading in the shallows. In the vicinity of nearly every 
village peacocks are spreading their burnished trail. 



INDIA. 227 

Slinger-boys are posted on elevations to frighten away 
the parrots from the ripening grain. The men are 
larger and the women handsomer than those we have 
been wont to see in India. Possibly these are direct 
descendants of the noble Persians and daring Medes. 
The five great Pandu brothers were Rajputs who wan- 
dered across these plains and over these marble hills. 
It is said the first ancestor of the Rajput kings reigning 
over these lands was the Sun himself, who was the 
father of Rama Chundra, an incarnation of Vishnu. So 
perhaps these dusky folks whom we have been inspect- 
ing are the " descendants of the Sun." The legend 
represents the Rajput of more than royal blood; and 
when his daughter married even a great Mogul, it was 
a humbling cross and likely to result in corruption 
of blood. It was this ancestral feeling that caused so 
many mothers of this land to slaughter their infant 
daughters because they believed husbands of suffi- 
ciently high rank could nowhere be found to wed them, 
and for them to live a single life would be a still greater 
curse. Accordingly, they would put the poisoned juice 
from the milk-bush upon the nurse's breast, that the 
girl-infant might early suck in the seeds of sure death. 
It is pleasant to know that this practice is among the 
things of the past. 

As the train nears the fairest city of Rajpootana, yes, 
of all India, the eye in searching discovers naught mar- 
vellously striking. As the traveller leaves the station, 
he is half disposed to think there has been a mistake 
made ; this cannot be Jeypoor. The station is a mile 
distant from the town. The road thitherward is wide 



228 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

and smooth. Spacious bungalows are scattered along 
the way, shaded by palms and peepul trees. Huge 
cactuses fence off the lots. At length you turn toward 
the high wall which girdles the city. Camels and ox- 
teams are various here, being loaded or relieved of 
heavy burdens. You pass through the Amber Gate, 
and under the shadows of a strong fort, and by sentries 
clad in black, who are equal to emergencies judging 
from their size and mien. Lo ! there is before you, as 
the eye looks eastward, a fabled picture of roseate and 
alabaster villas, palaces, and majestic structures as if 
just dropped before you ! Why, here is a street, two 
miles in length and a hundred and eleven feet wide, 
bordered thickly with rose-colored fronts of spacious 
buildings, consisting of dwellings, palaces, institutions 
of art and culture, shops whose fronts are in exact line, 
adorned with columns, tessellated works, and pictorial 
figures. Then, as the eye looks upward, there is the 
grandest breastwork of hills and mountains topped with 
fortifications, which half encircle the town. This view 
is charming, magnificent, and sublime. The whole is 
bathed in a flood of sunlight, rendering it like the fairy 
cities of which you have read and dreamed. A closer 
inspection shows that the houses are made of brick 
and stone and coated over with rough plaster, which is 
stained with rose and pink. The effect in the distance 
is the same as though made of pinkish alabaster. 

Throngs of people are moving through the streets, 
as though it were a feast-day, but you learn it is thus 
every day. Most persons covet excitement and are 
bound to be with the crowd. Having advanced about 



INDIA. 229 

a third of a mile, you come to a cross street of the same 
width as the main street and half as long, with fine- 
looking buildings on each side. Here begins on the 
north side of the main street the corner of the palace, 
whose front extends to another cross street of the same 
dimensions as the one just mentioned. The palace 
covers over a seventh of the area of the city, whose 
walls must be six miles in extent. In one part of it 
rises a beautiful tower. Some of the apartments of the 
Rajah's house are richly adorned. As you wander 
through the labyrinth of rooms, you can but ask. Has 
not all this taken necessary bread and clothing from the 
poor? How can a king enjoy such luxury when he 
knows it must cause many of his subjects to suffer? In 
the Rajah's stables you will see three hundred rare-bred 
horses, which are driven daily for exercise and the 
owner's gratification, as he sits under a veranda to wit- 
ness the movements and speed of his fine animals. 

Across the street to the east is the Hall of the Winds, 
that towers, tier above tier, dainty and daring, nine stories, 
thickly set with windows, balconies, arches, and screens. 
Its sides slant upward pyramidically. Even Aladdin's 
ladder could scarcely have excelled it. Inspecting 
the shops along the streets, you find hands busy in beat- 
ing out brass and moulding it into rings and bangles by 
the cart-load ; you see lapidarians grinding garnets, and 
jewellers setting them in silver and gold. The common 
women glitter in brass, and those of the higher castes 
are adorned with precious gems. There is an indepen- 
dence here and throughout Rajpootana, such as cannot 
be found elsewhere in India. In fact, the queen allows 



230 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the people to manage their own affairs by paying a 
certain revenue to the United Kingdom. It is natural 
for a people to desire to govern themselves; and when 
they have this liberty, they are more enterprising and 
ambitious. 

But almost every picture has its dark side; so, as 
you traverse the back streets, or more properly alleys 
of this city, you find indolence and greatest poverty. 
Every hovel swarms with children. As you enter one, 
you meet the husband, his wife, five daughters, and three 
sons ; the oldest of the children is fourteen, and she is 
married, and two younger sisters also, and the mother 
is pleased to inform you that the next younger, only 
seven years old, is soon to be wedded; the child has 
a large ring in her nose, as an assurance of her in- 
tentions. The parents, especially among the lower 
castes, are delighted to get their daughters married off 
as soon as possible. But the Rajput beauty is faded 
and old at thirty. In these by-ways you will be certain 
to meet with more or less half-insane men who profess 
to cure all diseases. The ignorant people who are in 
any manner afflicted will be huddled about the lunatic 
doctors for examination, receiving medicine of the crud- 
est kind. But they are likely to take it all on strongest 
faith, and so remarkable cures follow. 

Passing out of Ruby Gate at four o'clock, you will 
see a thousand prisoners marching from the quarries, 
where they have been laboring since eight in the morn- 
ing, to the penitentiary. They are strong, healthy- 
appearing men, most of them more than forty years old 
and imprisoned for larceny. Their faces do not indi- 



INDIA. 23 1 

cate that they are the worst of men. Could we know 
the causes that placed them within stone walls, we 
might have more sympathy for them, and pity, not 
censure them. 

As you visit the Botanical and Zoological Gardens, 
you discover the grounds to be spacious, and tastefully 
laid out, and kept in perfect order. The roses are all in 
bloom. The tropical plants are largely represented. 
Several fountains are playing. The trees seem to be 
full of sweet-singing birds. In the centre of the Botani- 
cal Garden is the Zoological, which abounds in birds of 
all sizes from the humming-bird to the black ostrich. 
Monkeys are not wanting, and tigers and lions are ready 
to eat the flesh of beast or man. Upon the south side 
of these inviting grounds stands Albert Hall, not yet 
completed. It is a grand structure, in good keeping 
with the city. It reminds you externally of some of the 
castellated buildings of England and France. Within 
are rooms and corridors in which are treasured the an- 
tiquities and representations of the Indian productions. 
It is being built by Maharajah in honor of Prince Albert, 
who did so much in the way of encouraging this people 
to treasure up the things of the past, appreciate the 
things of the present, and strive for the noblest things 
of the future. 

Besides the bulwarks crowning the hills already re- 
ferred to, there is upon one of the most prominent 
points a Temple of the Sun, to which multitudes climb, 
that they may worship in the purest air the Greatest 
Light. Certainly they toil hard enough to enjoy their 
religion, to appreciate it. This temple ought to be a 



232 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

beacon to shed the true light broadcast over the city 
and out into the world. The Presbyterian Scotch Mis- 
sion is doing an excellent work here in the way of en- 
lightening the people and teaching them to think. Its 
proselyting consists mainly in educating. This method 
overcomes opposition, and is quite sure to win in the 
end. 

A day's experience in Jeypoor will hang many a fair 
picture on the walls of memory to shed its rosy hues 
and cheer the heart as the years roll on. God has 
written beauty everywhere; and when men build a 
beautiful town, it should be admired and honored. 

One can but rejoice in passing from the interior of 
India to the great commercial city of Bombay, fast be- 
coming in trade the most important mart of the East. 
It is a favored city as to port and surroundings. It 
would seem Nature intended it to be admired for its sit- 
uation. The many diversified hills, lifted into moun- 
tains on the east; the open lands, running out to the 
north, thickly dotted with great varieties of tropical 
plants and trees ; the lofty Malabar Hill and the encir- 
cling bay on the west and south, render it alluring and 
picturesque. 

Then, as you visit the Esplanade and the new part 
of the town, you feel as though you were in portions of 
London or Boston. The fine structures are in style 
Gothic, Doric, and Saracenic. The Great Western 
Hotel, the University, the General Post-Office, Court 
of Justice, the new depot, the club-houses, the Times 
Building, and others are on a magnificent scale. While 
making this survey you almost imagine you have 



INDIA. 233 

reached a city of marble and of wondrous beauty. But as 
you turn from the new to the old, the scene is decidedly 
changed ; you find yourself no longer in Europe, but in 
India. As you pass along the Bhendi street of bazaars, 
the throngs of Asiatic population are immense. The 
Hindu, Guyerati, Mahratta, Malay, Mongolian, China- 
man, Japanese, and many from nearly every nation 
under the sun are here. The carts, drawn by docile, 
sleepy-eyed oxen, are beyond counting. The shops 
are so open as to exhibit their business to the gaze of 
passers-by. In spite of the crowds much of the work 
is done on the sidewalk and in the ditch. Here the 
barber is busy making bare the pate and smooth the 
face. The shampooer, too, is cracking joints and oil- 
ing backs. The unclad merchant sums up his accounts 
of pice and annas on the drab sheet with the sharpened 
stick, just as his fathers did. In places the Guru, in 
some recess, surrounded by his forty little boys, mostly 
nude, is laboring hard to teach the wee bits to drone 
out the Sanscrit Shlokes, that they may grow up to 
love Brahma, Every now and then a cow is standing 
among the crowds or leisurely moving along the way 
undisturbed, for she is still held in highest reverence 
by multitudes in this land. Coolies are swinging 
along with skins of water on their back, sprinkling 
the streets. 

So it is : the followers of Brahma and Mohammed 
appear to cling to the past, braced with their might 
against the onward sweep of the nineteenth century. 
But not so with the Europeans here, nor especially with 
the Parsees, who have won the right to be called Indian 



2 34 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

citizens. The latter are distinguished at once by their 
pecuHar costume. As you see them stirring about on 
the streets, or witness them in law offices, in counting- 
rooms, in places of business, or riding for pleasure, you 
soon are convinced they are enterprising and resolved 
on progress. The very expression of their faces shows 
that they are prompted by honest and high motives. 
No other natives are so generally educated as they. 
Nearly all of them can speak well, not only the lan- 
guages of India, but the English and the Sanscrit. 
They believe in the home, and therefore in the edu- 
cation of woman. Accordingly, they provide good 
schools for the girls as well as for the boys. As you 
see the Zoroastrian maidens in school, with their black 
tresses and flowing dresses of bright colors, having fair, 
happy faces, you can but rejoice to find such an oasis 
or promise for woman in these desert lands, where she 
is, and has been, terribly enslaved for centuries. 

All the Parsee boys are in schools of some grade, and 
remain until they can graduate with honor and fitness 
for business or some profession. 

The Parsees originated in Persia, and are the disciples 
of Zoroaster, who lived more than three thousand years 
ago. To him they believed was given the message of 
one who is Lord of all and who is not to Zoroaster a 
being like unto man. This One was Ahura-Mazda, 
Spiritual Mighty One, Creator of all. Zoroaster be- 
lieved that the most striking manifestation of this All- 
Creative One is the sun or light, and so he used fire as 
a symbol of this Highest One ; and thus have his fol- 
lowers continued to do, and therefore falsely have been 



INDIA. 235 

called fire-worshippers; while the truth is they have 
adored the one God, as much as the Jews. Their re- 
ligion, as expressed in their Bible, the Zend-Avesta, is 
embraced in these terse sayings, " good thoughts, good 
words, good deeds," of which the disciple is constantly 
reminded by his triple coil of white woollen girdle oi 
seventy-two threads, denoting the number of chapters 
of his Sacred Book, with two tassels of twelve knots 
marking the months of the year. 

Though the Parsees do not number more than ninety 
thousand souls, and half of them are in Bombay, they 
are wielding a decided influence In the modern civil- 
ization of the East. They were long a persecuted 
race, driven from their native country eleven hundred 
years ago by the Moslems and settled in Sugat, and 
from that point have become scattered through India. 
By their fruits they are making themselves known as 
worthy and efficient members of society. The Queen 
of England has no more honorable and patriotic sub- 
jects in India. They must have a deal of that noble 
blood of the ancient Persian coursing in their veins. 
They own and occupy some of the best residences in 
Bombay. It is refreshing to visit their homes after 
seeing so many wretched ones in this country. 

We are fortunate to witness a wedding party just at 
sunset, led by a band of music to the temple in which 
the ceremony is to take place. There are as many as 
a hundred in all. The men are attired in their white, 
loose togas, and the women in their rich silks of striking 
colors, with the snowy band round the head, crowned 
with the sari of violet or rose, sea-green or sapphire. 



236 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

The Zoroastrian youths are present, with bright faces 
and glossiest black flowing hair. The whole ceremony 
cannot be finished till four o'clock in the morning. 
The wedding-knot should be strongly tied by that time. 
Divorces seldom occur among the Parsees. 

In Bombay this religious sect is known, especially 
to travellers, by their Tower of Silence, which occupies 
the crown of Malabar Hill. 

Through the kindness of Parsee authorities we are 
privileged to visit this sacred place in company with two 
Parsee gentlemen of culture. It is mid-afternoon as we 
ride forth. The morning and noon have been exces- 
sively hot, but now a cooling breeze is wafted from the 
sea. The ride is very enjoyable. Places of note and 
interest on the street are pointed out, and bits of his- 
tory happily recited. As we come into the Parsee and 
English quarters of the city, the houses seem inviting. 
The grounds and yards abound in flowers and cocoanut- 
trees. In half an hour we come to rising ground, 
where the carriage is left. Soon the ascent is gradually 
steep, and so paved with stones as to prevent any slip- 
ping or falling. The passage is broad, and by flights of 
steps and inclined planes the summit is gained after a 
walk of fifteen minutes. Here we come to Praying 
Temples, where prayers are wont to be offered up as 
the dead are borne hither on their way for burial. In 
the principal temple is the sacred fire, fed night and day 
with incense and sacred sandalwood. From this spot 
there is a most delightful view of the city, sea, and sur- 
rounding country. Perhaps a more charming landscape 
picture cannot anywhere else be found. It is so still 



INDIA. 237 

here that it may well be called silent, and yet it is 
enchantingly beautiful. Passing on in the funereal road, 
we are immediately in the midst of beds of flowers, 
plants, cedars, and cypresses, through whose branches 
the breezes are whispering soft, plaintive requiems and 
the birds are singing sweet vespers. Beyond this pleas- 
ant retreat, among groves of palms and pines, are five 
stone cylindrical towers, from sixty to ninety feet in 
diameter and thirty feet high. These have been most 
thoroughly built, costing some forty thousand dollars 
each. The oldest has existed for two hundred years, 
another for more than a hundred, and the others have 
been built the present century. In the centre of each 
there is an open space, forty feet in diameter, but above 
and around this are three tiers of seventy-two troughs 
on a surface inclined to the centre. The first tier is for 
the remains of children, the second for those of women, 
and the third for those of men. These are all con- 
structed in keeping with the best sanitary measures. 
The dead are always borne here on the heads of bearers 
who are employed especially for this purpose ; and the 
mourners always walk, however far away, in following the 
silent form of their beloved to this resting-place. They 
are dressed in white, and walk two by two, the corpse 
preceding them in front by some thirty feet ; when they 
approach the tower in which the dead is to be deposited, 
they stop thirty feet away, as the form is placed on the 
steps. Then the mourners retreat to the sacred temple, 
where they offer up prayers that the departed may be 
safely transported to the final peaceful dwelling-place. 
At the same time the bearers transfer the corpse to its 



238 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

appropriate place, removing the clothing, in keeping 
with the idea that as man comes into this world naked, 
so naked he should go out of it. Neither the mourn- 
ers nor the priests, nor any but these appointed men 
ever go into these tombs. These bodies are lovingly- 
left to the keeping of God, that through his agencies 
the putrid matter may become purified as soon as pos- 
sible. The friends feel they have placed it high up in 
the keeping of the All-Creator; and if he sends birds to 
devour the flesh at once, as is generally the case, it is 
well. Then the living cannot be contaminated by the 
dead. In the course of two weeks those in charge of 
these towers enter and remove the skeleton to the vault 
or centre, so that the bones of the fathers and children 
may rest together. Now the motives prompting this 
people to dispose of their dead in this manner cannot 
be pronounced crude or impure. Certainly they would 
not be by those knowing them. This burial service is 
solemn, simple, and beautiful. They do not talk of their 
departed as dead, but as living; and so on the nine- 
teenth day of the new year they hold a special memorial 
service on this hill, bringing offerings to the shrines 
for their sainted, not with the feeling that they covet 
such things, but that they are delighted with the spirit 
which bestows, and holds their love in remembrance. 
The offerings that become thus consecrated they bear 
to their homes, and treat them as having served a 
spiritual purpose. The ninth day of the month is also 
given, more or less, to special worship in their temples. 
But five times every day the sheims have seasons of 
prayer before the holy fire. 



INDIA. 239 

From what has been said it is evident that the Par- 
sees are a religious people and that they manifest the 
Christian spirit in their lives. 

Should any take exceptions to the disposal of their 
dead, it would be well for such, if from the West, to 
ask themselves, Is our method free from criticism? It 
seems much worse to the Parsee to place the body in 
the grave to become putrid and eaten up gradually by 
worms than for it to be disposed of in an hour by vul- 
tures and other birds. Should they be deprived of this 
method, then they would prefer cremation, as do the 
Brahmans, to burying their dead in the ground. Our 
Auburns, Greenwoods, and other beautiful cemeteries 
are sacred places to us, and from the force of educa- 
tion we choose our method of interring the bodies of 
our departed ; still, when we realize why and how the 
Parsees lovingly and solemnly dispose of the forms that 
have been so dear to them, and cling to the life that 
has become infinitely more precious and according to 
their faith is to live on forever, we acknowledge that 
Christians have not attained unto that state beyond 
which there is no improvement. So far as extrava- 
gance, heavy burdens forced upon the poor, and pro- 
tection to the health of the living are concerned, the 
Parsees certainly have the advantage over us. Their 
poor have decent burial without impoverishing the liv- 
ing. They believe in the immortality of the soul ; that 
man is a free moral agent, responsible to his Creator for 
his thoughts and deeds ; that he will be rewarded in the 
next world according to his good or bad acts ; that the 
virtuous will be happy and the sinful miserable. 



240 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

There is nothing obnoxious or hideous in this place 
of interment. The receptacles of the dead are scat- 
tered among trees and builded high into the bending 
sky, so that they have no taint of the charnel-house. 
There is nothing in sight that savors in the least of the 
taint of death. But the roses throw out their perfumes, 
leaf and petal hold forth their beauty, and the birds have 
homes in the trees. Malabar Hill is warmed by the 
sun, fanned by the breeze, and brooded over by the 
stars. It may well be called the Tower of Silence, for 
God lifted it high above the noise of the world, and the 
Zoroastrians received it from his hands, beautified it, 
and have glorified it as the resting-place of their dead. 
To them it is a most sacred retreat for prayer and com- 
munion with the translated. 

But you must not leave this commercial city of nearly 
a million of inhabitants without crossing the bay to the 
island of Elephanta to inspect the caverns cut out of 
the rocks and the Hindu images and pillars carved in 
them to express the worship that formerly took place 
there. They are surely worth a visit, particularly the 
sculptured statue of Ardhamarishwara, which stands 
on the black hillside. The name is said to signify, 
" The Lord who is male and female." One half of it 
from head to foot is male, and the other female. The 
knotted hair and braided tresses, the heavy limbs and 
delicate form sharply define the sex. As you turn 
away from it you are disposed to say, " It is nothing 
but a fabled monster." As you are wandering about 
you are quite sure to be cautioned against the cobras 
that lurk in these ledges. In imagination, no doubt. 



INDIA. 241 

many a traveller sees the monster. But the surpassing 
experience of all on this island is the landscape pre- 
sented from the highest point. God's blending of sun- 
light and sky and sea and land is marvellously beautiful. 
When you find in the midst of these a great city, the 
picture becomes ecstatically grand and beautiful. 

But when the Elephantan caves are described as 
more wonderful than the ruins of Thebes or Nineveh 
or Babylon, a great mistake is made. It is like at- 
tempting to make the moon outdo the sun. 

Bombay is a religious city, if judged by its sects. 
The Brahmans are strong, the Moslems are numerous, 
the Zoroastrians are influential, the Catholics boast of 
their numbers, and the Protestants hold a sure footing. 

Were it not for the history of India, the traveller would 
hardly feel compensated in going through the country, 
for it is quite certain to be either too hot or too cold. 
From the fact of excessive heat, it is a question whether 
this land can ever prosper like England or the United 
States. One thing is certain, people here cannot en- 
dure work as they do in cooler latitudes. Either heat 
or indolence has forced them into the sitting posture 
when forging at the anvil, framing a building, weeding 
the garden, or paving the street. The natives in public 
places, whenever it is possible, are sure to be prostrate 
at full length or to be squatting on the ground. Eng- 
land is not realizing what she anticipated when the 
country first came into her possession. Europeans can- 
not endure the climate for many successive years. 

Since the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Great Britain 
has kept getting a stronger and stronger hold in India, 

16 



242 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

until now it holds the supremacy, having some nine 
hundred English appointed officers in the government. 
The people generally do not speak hopefully of India. 
They realize it has a past, at times heroic and full of 
romance, and again dark and ominous. They assign 
various causes for this state of things. Many are in- 
clined to believe it is owing largely to the religions. 
But Brahmanism is on the decline, and Muslimism has 
lost its grip. Accordingly, these hindrances are not in 
the way as formerly. Still the feeling of caste is as 
strong as ever. This is a tremendous incubus about 
the neck of the nation. Education and Christianity 
alone can remedy this trouble. Very important steps 
have already been taken in behalf of education. How- 
ever, it would seem that this work was begun at the 
wrong end, establishing first the college and private 
school ; but the Mission Schools are changing this 
order of things, doing a grand service for the common 
classes, and lifting the masses upward. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PERSIAN GULF, AND THE EUPHRATES AND 
TIGRIS TO THE NILE. 

IT is burning hot as the " Satara " steams out of the 
harbor of Bombay for the Persian Gulf; however, 
one of the most inviting landscapes is presented. Sea, 
plain, hill, mountain, sky, and sunlight so commingle 
as to fashion a lovely picture. For two days we are 
sailing along the Indian coast till anchors are dropped 
in the port of Kurrachee, a city that has sprung up on 
a level of sand and is fast becoming a centre of trade, 
because almost in a direct line from Aden to Calcutta. 
It is believed this will soon be an important town on the 
shortest mail-route to the far East. 

The coast now, as the steamer pushes on, becomes 
abrupt and then level. For the most part it is sterile. 
We no longer think it strange that Beloochistan should 
not figure more prominently among the countries of the 
globe. As the eye scans far inland, it sees one stretch 
of desolation. After days of sailing the Straits of Or- 
muz are reached, leading from the Arabian Sea to the 
Persian Gulf. A few hours later, and we are passing 
the Isle of Ormuz. Word-pictures of the poet are re- 
called, describing this as an island of emerald, abound- 
ing in silver, gold, rubies, and diamonds. Hither came 
many a poor man who would soon return home rich 



244 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

as Croesus, or like Jason, with a golden fleece. But 
at present how changed ! The island is composed 
of naked rock, massed into bunches and folds of lava. 
No tree or grass is visible. With the glass are to be 
seen remnants of the light-house and water-tanks built 
more than two hundred years ago by the Portuguese. 
Some two hundred persons inhabit it, who eke out a 
living by fishing and working a salt-mine. The real 
throws a pall over the ideal. 

Ahead and to the east loom up the Persian Moun- 
tains. How they tower and stretch along the coast ! 
Close down to the water the ridges resemble snow, be- 
coming white with a nitrous formation. Higher and 
still higher are ranges upon ranges without any vege- 
tation, while away in the distance are loftier heights 
crowned with snow. As these mountains are surveyed 
you can single out domes, cathedrals, bulwarks, and 
nearly every conceivable architectural shape. Now 
comes in view the village of Bundar Abbas. Its houses 
look like a mass of square boxes piled together. Here 
and there are a few palm-trees growing. No indica- 
tions are discovered that ploughs, hoes, or spades are 
used. In fact, all the people are congregated on the 
strand. Going on shore, the men and women are in 
large groups and of Titanic size. Xenophon's descrip- 
tion of the huge Persians seems to be verified. Still, 
as you watch their movements and study their charac- 
teristics, you soon decide they cannot be much like the 
followers of Cyrus. They are the exponents of dirt. 
They have monstrous bundles on their heads, coarse gar- 
ments next to their skin girded with a tight tunic, and in 



THE PERSIAN GULF. 245 

the winter time most of them have on a shaggy cloak. 
Their legs below the knees are bare, and their feet are 
protected by rude sandals. The women here wear pants, 
with coarse loose wraps about the shoulders. The chil- 
dren are encased in mud, and so dispense with clothing. 

This proves to be their market-day. Wheat, rice, 
beans, carrots, radishes, oranges, and black walnuts are 
heaped up along the shore. In the stalls are West 
India goods from England, and tobacco from America. 
Strolling among the bazaars, we find them full of 
darkness, but lacking merchandise. 

This is one of the principal seaports of Persia, and 
is guarded by a regiment of the Shah's soldiers, who 
need watching to keep them out of the cellars and hen- 
neries. Persia is poor, and so are her soldiers. The 
Shah has absolute authority over his subjects. No 
stranger will doubt this who sees the places where he 
walls them in and strings them up, putting them to 
death in the most cruel manner. There are no indica- 
tions of schools in this town of four thousand people. 
Several inferior mosques are visible ; the religious faith 
is Mohammedan. Most of the men are armed with 
guns made before flintlocks were invented. It must be 
that they wear these to be in fashion, for they would be 
able to fire them but a few times in an age. 

The whistle gives the signal for all to come on board 
the " Satara," to see more of Persia farther up the gulf 
Twenty-four hours' experience at Linga is much the 
same as at Bundar Abbas. Though the inhabitants 
reside on the seashore, their faces do not appear to 
be familiar with water. 



246 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Two days later the steamer lies in the bay of Bushire, 
a city of s-ixty thousand human beings, composed of 
Persians, Armenians, and Arabs. This is the great 
mart of the country. The houses are fort-like in 
structure, and the better class are overtopped with 
wind-catchers. It is hot here the year round. Several 
gunboats are moored in the harbor, implying that the 
olive branch of peace does not always wave here. 

On visiting the city, the streets are found to be tortu- 
ous and filthy. It is a wonder the people do not all die 
with some plague. Woman is degraded, and man is 
not elevated. It is exceedingly pleasant to fall in here 
with some English families, who have beautiful homes, 
just outside of the city, in the midst of flowers. These 
are serving the government and establishing schools. 

The Elamites, who were descendants of Shem, an- 
ciently dwelt in this region. Stone coffins and other 
relics are being discovered. 

In a few hours from Bushire, we are steaming up the 
Shat-el-Arab River. Close on the Arabian side the 
Turks are constructing a strong fortification for the de- 
fence of the gulf and the river. On either side the land 
is as level as a house floor. Evidently the Turks sur- 
mise that the Russians may come down of a sudden 
from the north, or the English sail from the south, 
declaring that this land is theirs, and so they intend to 
be ready for either, saluting them with shot and shell, 
commanding, " Hands off! " Soon Fau is gained, a 
newly established telegraphic station in this sparsely 
settled land. By and by Mohamera is passed on the 
Persian side, which is now a rude village, but was for- 



THE PERSIAN GULF. 247 

merly an influential town. In twelve hours from the time 
the river was entered, the steamer is anchored in front 
of Bussorah, eighty miles up the Shat-el-Arab River. 
Several spacious buildings are located on either side of 
the river, which is a third of a mile wide at this point. 
Englishmen and Scotchmen are here carrying on trade 
in dates, hides, and other commodities. It is surprising 
what Great Britain is achieving in different lands of 
the globe. Last year five hundred thousand tons of 
dates were shipped from this place, besides vast quan- 
tities of hides and wool. 

Bussorah is a city of sixty thousand souls, — Arabic 
and Mohammedan, — situated somewhat back from the 
river, boasting itself to be an influential town in this 
region where wild hogs and wolves roam. 

Close by this spot once stood the famous city of 
Eridu, on the shores of the Persian Gulf Great 
changes have taken place since then, producing eighty 
miles of land, or removing the gulf that distance off. 
The relics found show that Ea, the god of the sea, ruled 
over the city. Fifty miles up the river is the junction of 
the Euphrates and Tigris. Just between these are the 
ruins of Ereck, whose history has told upon the ad- 
vancement of civilization. Tradition says this was the 
home of the unfortunate Cain. Ana, the god of the sky, 
was ;ts presiding deity, assisted by Istas, the goddess 
of the evening. This is said to have been a city of 
priests and festivals. It is reported that tlfe Garden of 
Eden lay to the north of it, betv/een the rivers. At 
present there are few signs of a garden. However, 
•there is a solitary acacia that has been severely plucked, 



248 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

as if supposed to be akin to the tree of knowledge. It 
is a fact that the soil is very rich and deep. Were it 
properly cultivated, it would yield three hundred fold, 
Bricks and pottery are found in large quantities, prov- 
ing that an advanced people once dwelt here. Then, 
too, there are dunes of dirt and many ditches, showing 
how the surface was cut up by canals. This must have 
been somewhat of an inland city. 

Crossing the Euphrates, which is eight hundred yards 
wide, and ascending perhaps forty miles, on the west 
bank are found masses of wasting brick and broken 
pottery. This was the site of Ur. Ah ! here was the 
home of Abraham. Here it was, as he was taught to 
worship Sin, the god of the moon, he conceived the 
idea of the one living God. Here it was that Sarah, 
Leah, and Rachel were wont to bring water from the 
Euphrates, as women are doing to-day. Richest asso- 
ciations cluster around this spot, because heroes and 
heroines have been made here. Fullest liberty of con- 
science has grown from the soil of the most trying 
sacrifices. Palms are growing now close around this 
spot, and in places the grass is green and starred with 
fairest flowers. In the night owls hoot in the trees and 
jackals bark. Still, the old city of Ur through imagina- 
tion is seen as most lovely because it produced beautiful 
characters. 

Farther up the river, and a few miles south from it, is 
the rude village of Keffil. This is sought from the fact 
that it is a great resort for Hebrews. The people living 
here would not be likely to attract, unless it were for 
uncouthness. But here is the tomb of Ezekiel, built 



THE EUPHRATES. 249 

out of hardest burnt brick and kept in a good state of 
preservation. A light is constantly burning on the sar- 
cophagus. Thousands of Israelites visit this sacred 
shrine yearly. Were it not for these memorials thickly 
sown over the earth, how the past would be severed 
from the present ! Let the ashes of the sainted be for- 
ever consecrated ! 

Returning to the river and still going up the stream 
for miles, we arrive at Kufa. From the debris it would 
seem that there must have been a great city here. 
Some writings found state that it was forty-five miles 
square. Here report says" Noah entered the ark. Let 
that be as it may, the writings on tablets describe it as 
a beautiful city ; but the present mud-hovels are quite 
to the contrary. As far as the eye can reach, it is one 
extended level country. Were it not for the artificial 
mounds and the palm-trees, there would be naught to 
intercept the sight. 

Some four hundred and fifty miles from the union of 
the two great rivers, the site of old Babylon is reached. 
The piles of debris are vast and numerous. The old 
city extended some twelve miles north and south, hav- 
ing an area of two hundred and sixteen square miles, 
encompassed by walls three hundred feet high, a hun- 
dred feet thick at the base, and so wide on the top that 
three chariots could race abreast, and was sixty-seven 
miles in extent. The walls were made out of brick four- 
teen inches square and four thick. It is diflficult to con- 
ceive how it could be possible to produce so many. 
Within the walls to the north is an enormous mound 
of brick, which it would seem must be the ruins of a 



250 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

palace and citadel. But little has been done in the way 
of exploring and examining the mysterious structures ; 
at present they are the haunts of vultures and jackals. 
Two miles to the south is another immense pile, called 
the Kasr. This has been dug over to some extent, so 
that heavy brick walls and the figure of a huge lion 
made from dolorite are exposed. Across a channel is 
a still larger mass, occupying acres. This is supposed 
to have been connected with the Kasr, or Palace, and 
may have been part of the wondrous Hanging Gardens. 
Here Nebuchadnezzar ruled in luxury till he fell into 
abject ruin. After this inglorious fall, here it was that 
his grandson Belshazzar revelled till one night, the waters 
of the Euphrates having been turned from their course, 
Cyrus the Great marched down the bed of the river 
under the light of the stars, and striking down the hun- 
dred brazen gates, quickly entered the city and captured 
the king and his subjects. The river still runs close by 
the Kasr, and on its banks the osiers grow; possibly 
it was here that Cyrus found the captive Jews hanging 
their harps on the willows and weeping for their native 
land, and promised to return them to their beloved 
Jerusalem. 

Two miles farther south we cross the Euphrates on 
a bridge of boats. This does not remind one of the 
Tay in Scotland or of the Brooklyn Bridge. A coach 
and four, or even a hack and one, would not get on in 
trying to cross it, but the horses in single file succeed 
fairly well in going down, up, and over. Reaching 
the opposite side, crowds of natives press upon the 
strangers, having come out of the streets and houses of 



THE EUPHRATES. 25 I 

Hillah, which is a city of forty thousand Arabs, Jews, 
and Coolies, perched on the bank of the river. Women 
in long blue gowns and ragged veils are hastening to 
and fro with pitchers of water on their heads, dipped 
from the Euphrates. The boys crowd round, bawling 
out "Backsheesh ! " Countless dogs yelp and then slink 
away. English sparrows are flying about the roofs and 
twittering precisely as they do in London, The build- 
ings are huddled together, exhibiting nothing like the 
order that exists in a settlement of beavers or a col- 
ony of ants. The city presents a gray, gloomy aspect. 
It would seem as if the people were all out of doors to 
get the news, which is conveyed by the mouth; for 
there is no paper published in the city, and if there 
were, probably not twenty in the city could read it. Of 
course the women cannot read, for public opinion does 
not permit them to learn. They are considered inferior 
when they enter this world, and are kept so till they go 
out of it. The khan is the hotel in this land, and stran- 
gers are seeking one in which to stop at night while 
in the city. Several are examined before one is found 
that is fit for animals, much less for the endurance of 
human beings. In the khan man and his beast are 
expected to tarry close together. But fortunately a 
side-room is obtained, through which, though near the 
animals, the westerly breezes blow, proffering at least 
so much that is clean and fresh. The dragoman serves 
meals of corned beef from Chicago, jelly from London, 
cocoa from Ceylon, goat's milk, bread, and boiled eggs 
from Hillah. 

Strangers are often hailed by Jews declaring them- 



252 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

selves the offspring of the Captives. Well, there can 
be no question that they are Jews. They have tablets 
and seals for sale, but when you tell them they are of- 
fering counterfeits, they scorn you ; nevertheless, they 
deal largely in the bogus. But let the modern pass for 
the present, and we will ride southward among piles of 
ruin for six miles, until we reach the location of ancient 
Sippira, later Borsippa, and still later the Tower of 
Babel, which is believed to be the oldest ruin in the 
world, and is now known as Birs Nimroud. Niebuhr 
says : " Other ruins of Babylon are to be seen, but this 
is one of the grandest and probably the oldest human 
work in the world." It is a vast collection of brick, 
more than two thousand feet in circuit and nearly two 
hundred feet in height. Half of this bulk has become 
vitrified into one solid mass. How this change was 
effected is a mystery. The Tower was made in stages, 
rising seven stories, each one varying from the others 
in altitude, and the whole being more than six hundred 
feet high. There were courts running out from the 
centre, on which stood temples dedicated to different 
deities. Each story of the Tower was consecrated to 
some heavenly body, and colored according to the im- 
agined reflection of the star worshipped. The first story 
was. black for Saturn; the second orange for Jupiter; 
the third red for Mars ; the fourth green for Venus ; 
the fifth blue for Mercury; the sixth white for the 
moon ; and the seventh was yellow for the sun, in which 
was a golden statue of Merodach, forty feet high, in a 
sitting posture. Herodotus and Strabo have given an 
account of this Tower, but particulars have been ascer- 




STONE INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME OF SARGON I., 
KING OF SIPPIRA. 



THE EUPHRATES. 253 

tained from recently discovered tablets and cylinders. 
The upper story of the Tower in the time of Nebuchad- 
nezzar was a pantheon, in which were gathered the gods 
from all the leading cities of the land. The king was 
bound to make Babylon the city of the whole earth. 
So he brought the gods, the wealth, and the people 
from the chief towns to Babylon, filling it with three 
millions of human beings. It was then a grand and 
wealthy city. After it was captured by Cyrus, it flour- 
ished for a while; then it was ruled by Cambyses, 
and by Darius, and afterwards by Alexander, Antigo- 
nus, Demetrius, and finally by the Parthians. When 
Xerxes was on his forlorn retreat from Greece, he 
sacked it, bearing off the golden statue of Belus and 
other treasures to the amount of one hundred millions 
of dollars. At last its bricks were borne away to build 
Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Kufa, Kerbella, and other cities. 
The idols transferred from the city are said to have 
weighed four hundred pounds in gold. Babylon might 
with propriety have been called the " golden city " at 
its zenith ; but its glory and splendor are gone, and 
naught is left of it but its inscribed brick, its tablets and 
cylinders, to tell of its past. A large number of tablets 
have just been discovered, and no doubt many more 
will be, for the Babylonians were very particular to have 
their transactions recorded. As yet but little has been 
done in examining these ruins. From these tablets it is 
ascertained that there were libraries at Calnah and Accad, 
cities on the Tigris, whose volumes were numbered; and 
these were removed to Nineveh by Assur-bi-ni-pal, 
where all were invited to come and read. The oldest 



254 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

date found extends back thirty-eight hundred years 
before the Christian era, giving the reign of Sargon I. 
and his son. These writings are in the cuneiform style, 
or old Assyrian language. Within three years a large 
number of these tablets have been discovered in Egypt, 
proving that the Semites emigrated not only to Palestine 
but to the banks of the Nile. It is now fully believed 
by some of our most cultured archaeologists that it will 
be yet fully demonstrated by these cuneiform writings 
that the human race did originate by the Euphrates and 
Tigris Rivers, and went out in tribes peopling the earth. 
It is now known that the Babylonians were a religious 
people. They made many and costly sacrifices to their 
gods. They divided the week into seven days, and the 
year into twelve months. They understood the motion 
of the heavenly bodies ; they used the sun-dial and the 
water-clock to mark the time. It would seem that they 
must have had the telescope, because the Sabaean as- 
tronomers speak of the spots on the sun. These tablets 
give an account of the flood. They are showing that 
antediluvians and post-diluvians dwelt where now are 
found the ruins of Kufa, Accad, Eridu, and Borsippa. 
These discoveries are making plain many things in the 
Old Testament which have been obscure and inexpli- 
cable. The prayer of the inquiring mind is, as expressed 
in the dying words of Goethe, " Give me more light." 
As the new light comes, we see where was darkness be- 
fore. As the tree, cut down and fired, gives out the 
sunshine long ago stored up ; so, as these Babylonish 
mounds are upturned and the recesses explored, the 
hidden mental light of long ago is being cast afresh 



THE EUPHRATES. 255 

upon the world. Is it not immortality to live in the 
light? Ask Moses, Paul, Humboldt, Newton, and Frank- 
lin. It is refreshing to stand where so many millions 
of feet have trodden the soil, but how thrilling to have 
minds long since separated from the flesh speak to you 
in songs and prayers right from the heart ! Eternal 
sameness would untune the soul and unfit it for the de- 
lights of heaven. The truthfulness of this is felt as the 
monotonous, plodding life of the East is seen to-day. 
Novelty, surprise, and change of scene wake up the 
mind, giving it footing for greater things. These ex- 
plorations and discoveries are feeding minds with fresh 
inspiration, and causing them to be satisfied with noth- 
ing short of the whole truth. Souls thus conditioned 
are bound to find the " gates ajar," and new light all 
the while streaming in from some other shore. 

We sail up the river forty miles to Kerbella, where 
lie the ashes of Hussein, the grandson of Allah, who gave 
his life for the sake of the Faithful, and so his tomb has 
become a sacred shrine to the Moslems. Hither two 
hundred thousand pilgrims annually come on foot or 
on horse and camel. When this pilgrimage from Per- 
sia, India, and more distant lands is once accomplished, 
the devotees feel quite sure of entering paradise when- 
ever they shall cross the darkling river. Hither they 
bring their dead for burial by the thousands. 

A few miles on is Cunaxa, where Cyrus the younger, 
with his hundred thousand barbarians and thirteen 
thousand Greeks after forced marches met his brother 
Artaxerxes, with his nine hundred thousand soldiers. 
The odds were too great. Cyrus was left dead on the 
field, and his army made an inglorious retreat. 



256 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Leaving the Euphrates, we cross the country on 
horseback nearly four hundred miles. The evidences 
that this region was formerly densely populated are 
numerous. The soil is everywhere rich. It is plain to 
be seen that between the Euphrates and the Tigris the 
land has been cut up by canals. Frequently droves of 
cattle, herds of horses, and flocks of sheep are seen. 
The horses are sleek and very cheap. In the Kurd 
country vast grassy meadows are crossed, on which 
thousands of antelopes are feeding and flocks of wild 
turkeys are flying about. This journey is made under 
an escort of zaptiehs, or guardsmen. At Kerkook the 
tomb of the prophet Daniel is visited. Back from the 
rivers the country is shorn of trees. No doubt it was 
once heavily wooded. No more fertile lands exist than 
these; for the most part they are well watered, being 
supplied with frequent rains. Furthermore, the land is 
rich in mines, quarries, and mineral oils. But so far as 
it is inhabited, the people are barbarians, dressed in cot- 
ton and skins and devoted to rudest warfare. 

We have returned to the Tigris River nine hundred 
miles from the gulf. The Scriptures speak of the Tigris 
as the second great river. Daniel experienced some of 
his prophetic visions on its banks ; Xenophon retreated 
along its tortuous course ; Alexander crossed its tide at 
different points ; Heraclius defeated the fifty thousand 
golden spears of Chosroes. On its banks have been 
built some of the most famous cities. Here at the head 
of navigation we are on memorable ground. To the 
north are mountains fronded and snowy; to the east, 
south, and west are grassy plains. Before history began 
to be recorded in books, a great city was builded here 



THE TIGRIS. 257 

by Ninus, the founder of the Assyrian monarchy, two 
thousand and fifty-nine years before Christ. Under 
Asshur it had more than a milhon of people. It had 
gardens, parks, brazen gates, groves, hosts of mer- 
chants, and cattle upon the plains. This was Nineveh, 
which was long the mistress of the East. It was twenty 
miles long and nine wide, and sixty-seven miles in cir- 
cuit, and its wall . was a hundred feet high. Before 
Zoroaster taught or Plato philosophized, it was in its 
splendor. It was older than the Vedas of Para Brahm 
or the Sutras of Buddha. It was old before the Iran 
emigrated to Greece or Germany, or the Semite de- 
parted into Arabia or Egypt. As the classical writers 
began to refer to it, they were somewhat bewildered, 
for Ctesias, Diodorus, and Siculus speak of it as being 
situated on the Euphrates. Though Herodotus, Strabo, 
Pliny, and Ptolemy treat of it as being upon the Tigris, 
they impart but little information concerning it. So it 
had passed away, and Alexander marched over its site 
and did not recognize it. It slept in oblivion until 
Botta, Layard, Rawlinson, and Rassam stirred its slum- 
bering ashes, opening up palaces^ temples, obelisks, 
and tombs, on whose facades the exploits of kings and 
nobles were carved, and in the niches were found brick 
tablets telling of Ninus and thirty other kings who suc- 
ceeded him. In the centre of the ruins a mound is 
pointed out as the grave of Jonah. To the north of 
this is a vast pile of debris fifty feet high and eight 
thousand feet in circumference. This has been some- 
what explored, revealing chains of gold, vessels of silver, 
winged bulls, slabs of marble strangely and curiously 

17 



258 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

inscribed. Many tablets and cylinders have been found 
giving information of the city. But the half has not 
yet been revealed. Portions of the walls can be traced. 
The ruins ought to be thoroughly examined ; but the 
Turkish Government does not care to do it, and is un- 
willing that others should. It is beautiful among the 
ruins. The grass is green, and thickly set with orange 
and purple blossoms. Larks and chats abound, and sing 
merrily. Now and then a native may be seen stroll- 
ing about as though he were lost. How true it is that 
great cities as well as great men become buried in the 
dust, yet the character of the former survives as well 
as that of the latter. The views of Nineveh as pre- 
sented by Ezekiel, Jonah, and Nahum are darkly 
shaded, showing that it is always dangerous to sup- 
plant principle by wealth, pride, and passion. The 
end of such is certain to be bitter. 

All that has been disclosed tends to show that the 
plough turned the first furrow and the first harvest was 
gleaned between the Great Rivers. Accordingly, no 
other ruins than those of Babylon, Nineveh, and other 
cities near these rivers can be of more interest to the 
enlightened world. 

Opposite from these ruins is the city of Mosul. Here 
in the bazaars, among other strange things for sale, is 
manna. It is of a yellowish green color, and of the 
consistency of hard butter. It is gathered from the 
fields daily, and is regarded as a luxury. 

A raft is here made of one hundred and forty goat- 
skins, tied together and covered with small sticks of 
timber, on which is placed a little house covered with 



THE TIGRIS. 259 

sacking and roofed with canvas. This is to be the 
means of transport to Bagdad. The Tigris is high, and 
its current strong. The passengers consist of one Ameri- 
can, his dragoman, three natives, and a steersman. As 
the moorage is cut away, off goes the craft. In five 
days, which have been given to rest, novelties, strik- 
ing adventures in a terrible thunder-storm, and much 
new knowledge of geography, geology, and astronomy, 
the raft is anchored at Bagdad ; luggage and all are 
transferred to a tub-boat and whirled ashore. Here the 
Tigris is six hundred yards wide. Looking for the first 
time upon this city of a hundred thousand inhabitants, 
situated on both sides of the river, embowered in palms 
and orange groves, we feel it to be exceedingly attrac- 
tive. Its architecture makes no pretension to beauty, 
but the main object is to keep cool. Some of the resi- 
dences along the embankments are spacious. The 
houses are made of brick and mud, and are from one to 
three stories high. The minarets to the mosques, being 
numerous, present the nearest approach to beauty. • A 
glamour of romance broods over this city from the fact 
that it has passed through so many revolutions and been 
in the hands of so many different nationalities. It has 
been styled " the city of the Caliphs " and " the city of 
peace." But as you see daggers strapped to the belts 
of the men and guns upon their backs, you cannot see 
the force of this appellation. Then you can but shudder 
as you recall that caliph Tamerlane, who piled seventy- 
five thousand human skulls into a monument outside 
the walls, that he might indicate the fate of all who 
should oppose his reign. 



260 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

But why should the city be called Bagdad? There 
is a tradition that a Christian hermit whose name was 
Dad was the first settler here ; and as he delighted in his 
fine garden, which in Arabic means "bag," it was there- 
fore called the " Garden of Dad," or Bagdad. In the 
"Arabian Nights" there is many a reference to this city. 

From sunrise to sunset the main street, lined with 
bazaars, is brimful of people. You will not advance 
far on it without meeting with Turks, Jews, Arabs, Tar- 
tars, Armenians, and Persians. When they come to 
a standstill, they are almost certain to drop into a sitting 
posture. In the coffee-rooms, which are conspicuous 
at the corners of the streets, the men of leisure are 
assembled, and are full of talk, sipping the coffee and 
taking whiffs from the narghileh. Most of them are 
attired in a fez, shirt, tunic, and belt, with a string of 
red beads. Some of them have rings in the tops of 
their ears as well as in the lower part. Their wealth is 
largely invested in animals. A man owning one camel is 
poor ; owning ten, he is well off; owning sixty, he is rich. 
The bazaars seem crowded with goods from all parts of 
the world. Passing along, you see persons weaving silk 
and linen, moulding gold, silver, and brass, and convert- 
ing leather into many shapes. As the hour of prayer 
is signalled by the muezzin, the people are sure to re- 
member Allah. The fervor of the Prophet's disciples is 
so ardent and prevailing that it is said that if you cry 
" Allah " under storks flying about the Minar, an old 
minaret, they will out of reverence fall to the earth. 

We can learn but little of the women as we meet 
them on the street, for they are completely hidden by 



THE TIGRIS. 261 

flowing garments and veils. However, they manage to 
exhibit huge rings in their noses and bangles about their 
ankles. Friday is their Sabbath and marriage day. Their 
funerals occur usually at sunset. Looking into the 
ordinary home, you will find but few apartments. The 
husband sleeps on raised brick-work; but the wife, or 
wives, and children sleep on the floor. On rising, the 
husband first performs his devotions, and then a wife 
furnishes him with his chibouk and cofiee. While he 
is enjoying these by himself, his wife is expected to be 
praying for his success. 

If there was a famous college here in the thirteenth 
century, no such institution is to be found at present. 
However, it is just to say that the Roman Catholics are 
doing a good work in the way of education. 

Kasmain is a suburb of Bagdad, noted for its tombs 
of two Imaums, near descendants of Mohammed, This 
sacred retreat is connected with the city by a tramway, 
to accommodate pilgrims in visiting these tombs. The 
horse-railroad seems almost out of place in this city, 
which is more oriental than Cairo or Damascus. The 
Bagdadans extol the city as magnificent, and the chief 
of cities; however, they cannot refrain from crying it 
down during the months of July and August, but the rest 
of the year they are bound to overcome this drawback 
by magnifying its charms. Let them dote upon their 
long line of caliphs, and especially upon that one de- 
scribed as a planet amid a galaxy of stars, whose palace 
floors were covered with twenty-two thousand rich car- 
pets, and whose garden was adorned with a golden tree 
filled with artificial birds flying among its branches. 



262 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Four hours' ride down the Tigris on a steamer brings 
you to the ruins of Seleucia, which was founded soon 
after the downfall of Babylon by a general of Alexander. 
It was made out of brick, and peopled by captives from 
that city. For a considerable time it was the metropolis 
of Mesopotamia. At length the Parthians and Persians 
builded Ctesiphon, a rival city on the opposite bank. 
Civil strife raged between these cities. Each was trying 
to gain the ascendency by tearing the other down. In 
the course of things Ctesiphon became the victor, sack- 
ing Seleucia of her immense treasures. Only mounds 
of dirt mark the site of the latter; but at the former 
heaps of brick, walls of the palace, and an immense arch 
of brick remain to designate the place of its grandeur. 

The embankments of the river are high in this part 
of the country, so that, unless it be flood-time, which 
occurs in June and September, passengers have but little 
chance to overlook the wide acres of most fertile soil. 
Frequent glimpses of Bedouin villages are seen, where 
nomadic tribes are watching their herds and flocks. It is 
too bad that such lands should remain in such hands. In 
the course of two or three days you will pass several 
villages close upon the river. As the steamer halts at 
these se'ttlements, all the men, women, and children 
flock to the landing. These are motley crowds, not 
more than half civilized. Still, they seem kindly dis- 
posed to strangers. A few miles before arriving at the 
junction of the great rivers, the tomb of Ezra is seen 
upon the right bank. This is to the Israelites a sacred 
shrine. It is made out of brick, with a blue dome and 
red sides. How true it is that the good and noble are 



THE ARABIAN COAST. 263 

never forgotten ! Though this whole land has many 
natural beauties and attractions, though the ruins of its 
cities are stupendous and thrilling, still these all pall 
and dim, as the lives of prophets and holy men and 
women rise before you, who wrought here sublimely for 
God and the progress of the race. It is not strange that 
the Bible speaks of the Euphrates and the Tigris as the 
Great Rivers. They are great in physical results ; they 
are great in history. Because of human associations 
the flowers fringing their borders are particularly sweet, 
the palm-groves are beautiful, and the over-arching skies 
are exceedingly rich in sunshine, distilling dews, and 
radiant stars. 

When it is winter here, the thermometer stands at 
eighty, ninety, and even a hundred degrees of heat. 
Verily, this is summer enough for those of New England 
birth. The Tigris is a swifter river than the Euphrates, 
and bears as much water to the gulf. 

A few missionary lights are beginning to shine in this 
land. Let them flame out and onward, dispelling the 
long night of ignorance and gloom and ushering in an 
unclouded day of joy and wisdom. 

Again we are steaming through the Persian Gulf and 
round the coast of Arabia. Care is required not to run 
upon coral reefs. The polyps have been, and are, busy 
bodies in these waters. At Bahrein, which is a village 
upon an island of the same name, are seen a host of 
men who follow pearl-fishing during the hottest months, 
and for the rest of the year are idlers. The past sea- 
son they secured pearls to the value of a million and 
a half dollars. Most of them were sold to merchants in 



264 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Bombay, Though the pearl-seekers secure so many 
treasures, still they can barely live. 

Near the lower part of the gulf the coast of Arabia 
begins to be abrupt; and as the Arabian Sea is entered 
the land surface is lifted into hills and mountains. Ap- 
proaching the city of Muscat, the traveller can but mar- 
vel as he beholds more than the romance of the Rhine 
or the weirdness of the Scotch Highlands. The rocks 
are lifted into heights from a few feet to six thousand, 
being conical, serrated, twisted, scoriated, billowy, and 
barren. Not a tree or green object is anywhere to be 
discovered. Soon the steamer turns into a small bay 
encircled by rocks whose sides and tops present forts 
and frowning guns. The oldest of these forts were 
constructed by the Portuguese two hundred years ago. 
In the defile of the rocks a few houses are to be seen. 
But where is the city? Going on shore in a boat resem- 
bling the Venetian gondola, you are led — for you must 
be led — through the custom-house, post-office, ship- 
ping buildings, and over tortuous paths to bazaars and 
dwellings, and to the palace of the Sheik. Muscat is 
a city of forty thousand living beings dwelling among 
the rocks. There is nowhere to be seen soil enough 
to bury the dead. The inhabitants must walk or ride 
over stones for some three miles before they can find 
land enough for a garden. The natives appear wild, 
yet they are hospitable. Many of them own slaves 
brought from Zanzibar. Muscat is the capital of a 
district about the size of England, and ruled by a sheik 
who would not be able to hold his own against the 
Turks, were there no British gunboats floating in these 



THE ARABIAN COAST. 265 

waters. It is a mystery how a people can be content 
to dwell in such a desolate region. None but Arabs 
would. Somehow they delight in the desert and waste 
places. Muscat is the city among the rocks. Its foun- 
dations and battlements are certain to endure while the 
earth lasts. 

Still rounding the Arabian coast, you find it to be 
rimmed largely with hills and mountains of bare rock. 
It is strange that the Arab should love and cleave to a 
land of sand within and rocks without. Before entering 
the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb high bluffs and mountains 
are seen rising far aloft. These are masses of basalt and 
quartzose rock, thrown into their present shape by vol- 
canic force. The name of the straits signifies " Gate of 
tears," implying that many lives have been lost in these 
waters. By and by the vessel rounds a projection and 
swings into the port of Aden, which is safe and commo- 
dious, fronted with another formidable mass of rock. 
The city of twenty thousand inhabitants is five miles 
back from the coast, but among the stones. 

Aden is a coaling-station for steamers, affording its 
chief business. Jews are also here, making a specialty 
of selling ostrich feathers to voyagers. They are as 
keen here as everywhere else, seldom losing the best 
of the bargain. On the rocks are seen barracks where 
a regiment of English soldiers are quartered to defend 
the straits. It is intensely hot here, and most difficult 
to obtain drinking water. The soldiers and the inhabi- 
tants who are obliged to dwell in the midst of such 
heated desolation are to be pitied. The natives, tall 
and but partially clad, are ready to take the advantage 
of strangers whenever they can. 



266 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

As the Red Sea is entered, the query arises, Whence 
the name? The first answer suggested is that it springs 
from tlie fact of its red-hot heat; but on further exami- 
nation it is found to be derived from the fact of its 
abounding in red coral. In the last of April the sun 
sends down melting rays ; what must the temperature 
be in August? This sea is long and narrow, bounded 
by sandy plains and irregular, distorted, barren hills 
and mountains. Birds and porpoises abound in these 
waters. 

Midway of the Arabian coast is Jeddah, another city 
founded on the rocks. This is the seaport to Mecca, 
and also traditionally famous as being the burial-place 
of Eve. Adam is said to have been interred in Ceylon. 
If the reports of their home be true, it would not seem 
strange that their graves should be so far apart. In 
passing, good views are enjoyed of the Sinai Mountains, 
rising five and eight thousand feet above the sea, com- 
posed of basaltic rock and destitute of vegetation. 
From its name you would judge that in olden days 
emigrants from the Euphrates, who worshipped Sin, 
the god of the moon, must have settled here. The 
associations brooding about these heights will be as 
lasting as the stones themselves. The seacoast all the 
way is strangely wild, fenced high with volcanic hills 
and naked rocks, as though just thrown from a fiery 
furnace. Arabia is a weird country, in which the lion 
roars, the panther cries, the jackal barks, the ostrich 
runs, the gazelle darts about, the chameleon changes its 
color, and locusts swarm. It appears as though this 
land was never intended to become the abode of man. 
But the legend says, " God gave this waste of sand and 



THE SUEZ CANAL. 267 

stone to the Arab ; " and when the poor man com- 
plained of his lot, the Mighty One pitied and said, 
"Be of good cheer!" The Arab heard, gave thanks, 
and was sent forth to find new blessings. In the heart 
of the waste he discovered some green islands on which 
were feeding camels and horses ; and, lo ! these were his 
possessions, and he was perfectly happy, and has de- 
lighted in the country ever since. 

At the head of the Gulf of Suez is a city of the same 
name, composed of thousands of Arabs, Turks, French, 
Italians, and Germans. It is a city remarkable for dirt 
and cleanliness, huts and comfortable homes, ignorance 
and culture ; in summer it is a furnace and in winter an 
oven; still, it is an important shipping-port. 

But the object of absorbing interest here is the Suez 
Canal, which is eighty-six miles long, three hundred and 
twenty-seven feet wide at the surface, seventy-two feet 
at the bottom, and twenty-eight feet deep. Its total cost, 
when first opened, was $100,000,000. Every steamer 
passing through it pays one dollar and a half on every 
net ton and two dollars on every passenger. At present 
the tonnage per month is upwards of six hundred thou- 
sand, and the receipts are more than a million dollars. 
By means of this canal five thousand miles are saved, 
in making a trip from London to Bombay. The world 
is greatly indebted to M. de Lesseps, who planned it 
and was instrumental, in spite of the direst opposition, 
in constructing it. The original stock was divided into 
four hundred shares ; one hundred and seventy-six were 
taken by Ismail Pasha, and the balance by the French. 
At present the English control the shares of the Pasha. 



268 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

There are traces of an old canal running somewhat in 
the same direction as the new one, built by Pharaoh 
Necho and the Ptolemies, and called the " Canal of the 
Kings," which, filling with sand, was cleared out and 
restored in the seventh century by Caliph Omar as the 
" Canal of the Faithful." 

This isthmus has long been famous ground ; for near 
it Abraham and his descendants tended their flocks and 
led them to drink of the waters of the Nile. While the 
present canal was being constructed, near the half-way 
station a monolith of red granite was found, cut in the 
form of an armchair, on which were sitting three Egyp- 
tian figures of a priestly order. As its hieroglyphics have 
been deciphered, they reveal the fact that the figures 
represent Rameses II. sitting between two sun-gods, 
Ra and Turn. These, with other ruins discovered, 
serve to substantiate the records of Moses. This is 
the land in which the descendants of Abraham dwelt 
for four hundred and fifty years ; the last two hundred 
years they were made menial slaves by the Pharaohs. 
In the northeastern part of Egypt was Goshen. Here 
were the cities of Rameses and Pithon, whence Moses 
started, with perhaps two million Israelites, for the 
fatherland. 

Coming to the lower part of the Nile, we find it an ex- 
tended plain, intercepted only by dunes, or mud deposits 
of the river. Because of the damming up of the water, 
the delta is formed, dividing the river into many streams 
some eighty miles from the Mediterranean Sea. One 
cannot be long in this region without coming to the 
conclusion that the Nile is the mother of Egypt. In 




CARAVAN CROSSING THE ARABIAN DESERT. 



THE NILE. 269 

studying geography the learner is usually led to infer 
that this country is about the size of Russia in Europe. 
But the truth is, Egypt proper is about five hundred 
and fifty miles long, and from five to twelve miles wide, 
lying close upon the Nile, having an area about the size 
of Maryland. All the rest of the country is desert. 
For the ages it has been a struggle between the river 
and the desert, to see which should bear off the palm. 
The one signifies life, and the other death. The Nile 
has held its own. At the point where the delta begins 
to form, the river is half a mile wide. It is the longest 
and most mysterious river of the globe. For the last 
eighteen hundred miles it falls only seven inches to the 
mile. The first of June, and at very nearly the same 
hour, it begins to rise, and continues till into Septem- 
ber, when, usually on the same day of the month, it 
begins to fall. At high water all the arable land is 
under the flood, which is twenty-five feet deep a hundred 
miles from the sea. While the water is withdrawing from 
the land, the first crop is sown without ploughing. The 
seed is virtually cast upon the water. They plough for 
the second sowing, and also for the third. Three crops 
are raised yearly. For the second and third planting 
the soil requires to be watered. This necessitates work, 
whether it is done by the ox turning the windlass, or by 
man operating the shadoof, or by two coolies scooping 
up the water with the swinging basket. The soil • is 
exceedingly prolific. Though the annual deposit is 
slight, making only three and a half inches in a century, 
it is sufficient to keep the land rich. The banks of the 
river are likely to be green and beautiful during low 



270 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

water. The country produces enough to support its 
seven millions of people. Long has it been a country 
of corn. Six hundred years before Christ there were 
twenty-two thousand cities along the banks of the Nile, 
and the country produced enough to support them, hav- 
ing corn to spare. Why should we wonder that this 
river has been worshipped as a god? 

Going up the river, and a few miles back from it on 
the east, we arrive at Heliopolis, which was On in the 
reign of the Pharaohs. This was the Oxford of Egypt. 
Here Moses was educated ; here Eudoxus and Plato 
remained for thirteen years as students ; here Joseph 
married his beloved Asenath ; here Jeremiah wrote 
his Lamentations; and tradition says' that Mary and 
Joseph with the child Jesus were here for a short time. 
Once numerous statues and monuments graced the city ; 
but now its sole relic is an obelisk of red porphyry, 
sixty-seven feet high, inscribed with the name of Oser- 
tisen L, the great king of the XIL Dynasty. 

Six miles to the south is Cairo. Stand on its citadel 
and look upon the city. You are reminded of a Gothic 
temple having thousands of turrets rising above it. On 
the east side the barren hills hug close the walls, while 
on the west and beyond its limits are greenest fields, 
and farther on the desolate Libyan Mountains. Its 
four hundred and fifty mosques are conspicuous, over- 
topped with more than two thousand minarets. The 
most beautiful mosque is Sultan Hassan, costing three 
thousand dollars a day for three years to build it. 
Tradition reports that the Sultan caused the architect's 
hands to be cut off, to keep the edifice unique. It 



THE NILE. 271 

was on this citadel that Mehemet Ali gained his signal 
victory over the Mamelukes. The elegant alabaster 
mosque on its crown was built in honor of that triumph. 
The city is thoroughly Oriental and Moslem. On the 
streets the donkeys are dodging about like bees in front 
of a hive just before swarming. Really they are the feet 
and the hack of the Cairenes. Caravans of camels go 
swinging along, like ships just sailing into harbor from 
the great desert. A multitude of dusky faces are in 
the thoroughfares from sunrise to sunset, and among 
them are sure to be beggars ad infinitum. As you 
inspect these creatures, you conclude that they are 
grown, not made. 

Of all places of resort in this city of half a million 
souls there is no other so attractive to one seeking 
knowledge, as the Boulak Museum, which is the most 
valuable treasury of antiquities in the world. Here we 
find many busts of kings, mummies of heroes, coffins, 
sarcophagi, papyri, vases, jewels, bracelets of gold and 
pearls. Here is a statue of Cephrene, purporting to 
have been made nearly six thousand years ago. In 
one room are the mummy of Seti I., whose daughter 
saved the child Moses as he was set afloat upon the 
Nile; the mummy of Rameses H., who proved himself 
the greatest Pharaoh of all ; and that of his son Me- 
nephtah, who was the Pharaoh at the time of the Exo- 
dus. Here is the Stone of Three Inscriptions, which 
has proved the key to the hieroglyphics. Here, also, 
are two statues of Apepi, the Pharaoh of Joseph's time. 
This museum is the work largely of M. Merriette, M. 
Maspero, and M. Naville. In another department are 



2/2 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

the five hundred skulls collected to illustrate the eth- 
nology of Egypt. 

This is a religious city; hov/ever, no bells signify the 
hours of worship, but muezzins from the minarets send 
out calls to prayers five times each day. The present 
Khedive has but one wife, and she delights in her home 
and husband. But such homes are few in this city of 
the grandest bazaars, of funniest scenes and most bar- 
barous deeds. A kind of romance hangs about the city. 
The air is tinged with a peculiar color, being gray rather 
than blue ; however, the day is usually ushered in with 
brightness, and departs in splendor. Evidently great 
changes are to come to this city of marvellous story 
through the soldier on duty, the missionary portray- 
ing the love for the Gospel, and the dramatic pictures 
of the long past. Let Vernet paint the real things of 
the citadel and hang them in the Louvre ; let the travel- 
ler still come hither and gather up facts of the new and 
the old, to enlarge and ennoble character. 

Twelve miles up the river and across to the westerly 
side are the pyramids of Gizeh. Sand is piled around 
them. They are built out of stone quarried from the 
ledges on which they stand and from syenite brought 
from far up the Nile. Cheops, the largest one, covers 
over thirteen acres of ground. Its sides correspond 
with the points of the compass, and measure just as 
many cubits on each side as there are days and parts 
of a day in a year. The mortuary cellar, Queen's Cham- 
ber, and King's Chamber are sufficient to prove that 
this pyramid was built for a tomb. Its altitude, which 
was five hundred feet, bears the same relation to the 




THE HEAD OF RAMESES II. 



THE NILE. 273 

perimeter of the base that the radius of the circle does 
to its circumference. 

The Sphinx, which is near by, is another prodigy, cut 
out of the native rock, one hundred and forty-three feet 
long and sixty-three feet high, having the body of a 
lion and the head of a man. It is indeed a symbol of 
strength. The altar in front of it, and the temples close 
at hand give it a religious significance. The under- 
lying thought of these huge works is religious. Men 
built thus grandly with the view of living forever. A 
Pharaoh, as soon as he began to rule, given to retire- 
ment and meditation, began to build his temple and 
tomb so that they would last. He believed that if his 
body should not be preserved after death there would 
be no possibility of his spirit living again; therefore 
can you marvel that he should build his sepulchre in 
the solid rock? He believed that after five or fifty thou- 
sand years of transmigration his soul would return to 
the body, if the latter were preserved. This renders it 
easy to see how Cheops could summon to his service 
a hundred thousand men, and hold them for twenty 
years splitting, hewing, and piling stones into a pyra- 
mid that should commemorate his life and faith. 
: Within a range of twenty miles there are seventy- 
two pyramids. All are on the west side of the Nile. 
But the Egyptians preferred to dwell on the east side, 
that, when they should die, their bodies might be ferried 
across the Nilus by Anubis, their god of souls, that they 
might at once have pleasant experiences in the silent 
land. 

For eleven miles to the south, was once a beautiful 

18 



274 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Street bordered with sphinxes. On the west side was the 
artificial Acherusian Lake ; beyond this was the Mem- 
phian Necropolis, where mortals descended to Amenthes. 
All of these at present are buried out of sight by Libyan 
sand. At the terminus of this splendid highway stood 
the city of Memphis, and around it within its walls, as 
guards, stood eleven pyramids. These are in sight to- 
day. The chief and the oldest, it is believed, of all the 
pyramids is the Pyramid of Steps, built by Chochome 
Side for a tomb to the god Ti. It covers over eight acres 
of surface. Sand is piled high about the pyramids here, 
as well as at Gizeh. An avenue has been opened up 
not far from the Step-pyramid, leading down under 
the sand into the Temple of Ti. Here are seen chapels 
made of whitest stones and carved with exquisite skill, 
exhibiting land and sea, — figures of men, women, 
beasts, birds, ships, and fruit. Portions of it are very 
ancient, while other parts bear marks of the Grecian 
chisel. Beyond and below this we come to the Sera- 
peum. Here we find ourselves in a broad passage 
walled and arched with huge stones' still farther on 
and lower, we are in the Apeum ; here is the Temple 
of the Apis, where he was tenderly guarded and fondly 
adored as the true symbol of Osiris ; still proceeding, 
we soon come to vast sarcophagi of red and black gran- 
ite in deep vaults on either side of the passage. As we 
are going round and round, we count twenty-four out of 
the seventy-two discovered by M. Merriette. There is 
enough to be seen here, to show that Memphis was a 
gorgeous city long before Rome or Athens had a being. 
In its palmiest days it was the home of regal assemblies 



THE NILE. 275 

and the seat of science and philosophy. Here Cam- 
byses received glittering embassies that came from old 
Babylon. Moses no doubt walked its streets and won- 
dered at its magnificent works. Hither Alexander came 
and traversed its Apeum, and then admiring floated 
down the Nile in his golden galley. Even as late as the 
Ptolemies it was an imposing city, ranking only second 
to Alexandria. 

We have advanced more than four hundred miles 
up the Nile by rail and boat. Out of the south is 
wafted a halcyon day. The sky flashes out beauties 
like precious stones. The very atmosphere comes 
laden with sweetness from Araby and Nubian plains. 
Birds sing, it would seem, for the whole earth. A 
fairer land and sky could scarcely be imagined. Right 
here in the midst of these richest gifts of Nature once 
stood the Hundred-gated Thebes ; yes, it was the cen- 
tral setting in the largest and richest plain of Egypt. 

The Pharaohs had done their great work at On, 
Gizeh, and Memphis; the Shepherd Kings had ruled 
the land, doing their best and worst; the glory of a 
wonderful civilization was fast dying out from the 
banks of the Nile. As gioom was settling over Lower 
Egypt, a call came from Upper Egypt, bidding hearts 
revive and build anew where summer is sure to reign, 
where the soil is rich and the stone is enduring. So 
hither came a people, kingly and priestly, believing in 
gods visible and invisible. Osiris, Isis, and Horus 
they adored, worshipping as their symbols the apis, 
the ibis, and the hawk. They believed that while they 
were in this world they must prepare for death, — that 



2/6 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

they must build their own tombs in order to preserve 
the flesh while their spirits might be voyaging through 
beasts and birds and silent abodes. With them the 
flesh was first. 

To this spot came such a people, and did patient and 
persistent work. They aimed to take advantage of the 
fortunes and mishaps of the past. The Nile was already 
fringed from the Delta for six hundred miles with noblest 
structures and grandest ruins. Here they resolved to 
build so as to surpass them all. Here the king com- 
manded his subjects to dig, quarry, shape, and pile up. 
For centuries they wrought. Kings died and kings 
were born, and the building went on, until what is now 
Luxor, Karnak, and Thebes were one, constituting the 
proudest city that had ever graced the Nile. It was 
from Ahmes I. to Rameses II. in reaching its zenith, or 
from 2400 to 1400 B. c. When Rameses II. pronounced 
it complete, what a city of temples, palaces, columns, 
pillars, statues, and sphinxes it was ! The ruins are 
verily sublime ! The perfect work, how magnificent it 
must have been ! 

The city was thirty-six miles in circuit. The houses 
are all gone, but temples and tombs are to an extent 
preserved. The city was divided by the Nile. Palaces 
and temples fronted one another on elevations. Tombs 
were dug deep into the solid rock; and as they are 
opened up, their carvings and paintings in many in- 
stances are as fresh as though done but yesterday. 
The Colossi; the Rameseum, with its tremendous 
statue of Rameses II.; the temple at Karnak, which 
requires an hour to walk about it, with its hall three 



THE NILE. 277 

hundred feet long and two hundred wide, supported 
by a hundred and thirty-four pillars, from forty to sixty 
feet high and from nine to twelve feet in diameter, — 
were stupendous works. Days and weeks are required 
to see these ruins. For the most part stillness broods 
over them. A few human beings are crawling among 
them, or sleeping in the dirt, who are little more in 
thought or act than the donkeys they ride or the 
goats they milk. The fellahs who cultivate the soil 
and live in the villages are of a higher type ; they are 
evidently descendants from the Semites. But the 
former life of Thebes is gone ; it is being fast buried 
in dust. We know it was grand, on a grand site, 
and surrounded by a grand country. It is now grand 
in ruins. 

Alexandria, founded 332 B. C, became a famous city 
in the course of a hundred years. It stood on the 
ground which the legend says fickle Proteus claimed 
as his abode. On the sandy shore, it is said, he was 
wont to be consulted, as he ruled over sea-monsters; 
and when consulted, he was certain to evade giving 
definite answers by suddenly changing into a tiger or 
a lion, or disappearing in a flame of fire or a whirlwind 
or a destructive storm. To say the least, it has been 
a precarious city. The modern is quite unlike the 
ancient. The street-scenes almost every day are novel 
and exciting. Just take an outing of half an hour on 
the central avenue. Those high-capped and black- 
coated men whom you see, are Copts ; those mounted 
on horses and in uniform are Turkish officials ; that 
red-eyed chap, dressed in white and skipping about 



£78 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

like a cricket, is an Albanian; those young fellows 
bobbing up and down on those diminutive donkeys are 
midshipmen fresh from England ; those fellows with big 
lips and crisp hair are Nubians; then you discover 
French dandies, Italian beauties, Hindu wonders, Be- 
douins from the Jordan, brigands from Spain, women in 
trousers, men in petticoats. Ah ! it is a mongrel popula- 
tion. Who ever saw the like elsewhere? One moment 
you might feel yourself to be in Paradise, and the next in 
Pandemonium. It has a population of more than three 
hundred thousand. Its prosperity has depended largely 
upon the fact that it is the half-way post between Lon- 
don and Calcutta. 

In the new city there is but little to be discovered of 
the old. Pompey's Pillar and the Catacombs are about 
all. These are sufficient, however, to give evidence that 
a grand city once existed here. It must have been 
such when the lighthouse of Pharos towered five hun- 
dred feet, and the artificial lake Mareotis was brimful 
of the Nile water, and the spacious main street ex- 
tended from Pharos to Mareotis. In the centre of this 
street stood the museum founded by Ptolemy Philadel- 
phus. Here it was that thirty thousand students were 
wont to assemble to listen to the lectures of Origen, 
Athenasius, Euclid, and Hypatia. Here Philo at the 
head of seventy-two wise Jews translated the Old Testa- 
ment from Hebrew to Greek, giving the world the 
Septuagint edition. It is said the translators were shut 
up by pairs in cells, each pair required to translate the 
whole ; and when comparison came to be made, it was 
surprising to find how few the discrepancies were. 



THE NILE. 279 

Here, too, was that wondrous library having four hun- 
dred thousand volumes in the museum and three hun- 
dred thousand volumes in the library of the Serapean 
Temple. The former was destroyed when Julius Caesar 
set fire to Alexandria 47 B. c. The latter having been 
increased by the successors of Ptolemy Philadelphus 
to the number of seven thousand manuscripts, it was 
destroyed by the Saracens, who heated their baths 
for six months by burning the books, according to 
the command of Caliph Omar, 642 A. D. 

Egypt is a remarkable country, look at it and study 
it as you will. Its history is far-reaching. Its original 
stock, it would seem, from some recent discoveries and 
early names, must have come from Chaldea, or the 
north. Under the Pharaohs for twenty-six dynasties 
it prospered, and then was overcome by the Persians 
in 1525 B. C. and was held by them till 525 B. C. From 
323 B. C. to 30 B. c. it was ruled by the Ptolemies. 
From 30 B. c. to A. D. 362 it was under the Romans. 
In A. D. 640 it was captured by Omar I. ; it remained 
in the hands of the Arabs until conquered by the Turks 
in 1517, and is still under the jurisdiction of the latter. 
Its hieroglyphics and cuneiform tablets are revealing 
most interesting facts of its marvellous history and 
grand past. Its ancient industries and recreations are 
represented in sculptures and paintings on the walls 
of the tombs. But the pyramids of Gizeh and Sakara, 
the splendid cities Memphis, Rameses, and Heliopolis, 
the tombs of Beni-hassan and the Hundred-gated City, 
the temples of Karnak, Edfau, and Assouan, and vastly 
more, are all, as well as the rich lands of Egypt, the 



28o ROUND THE GLOBE. 

gifts of the Nile, So with great force it may be desig- 
nated the mother of this land, — yea, the mother of the 
highest ancient civilization whose course has been west- 
ward. As its bright fortunes rose on the banks of the 
Nile, would it not seem that its setting glory is to be on 
the borders of the Mississippi? Surely, civilization has 
been marching westward. It advanced from the Nile to 
Palestine, to Greece, over the Alps, through Gaul to 
England, and, finally, across the Atlantic to America. 
The accumulated light and increasing knowledge of the 
centuries ought to produce here the highest type of 
civilization. These forces will give us noblest results 
if Americans are only true to their opportunities. 




GETHSEMANE AND MOUNT OF OLIVES, AND ROADS TO BETHANY. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PALESTINE. 

AFTER listening for weeks to the silence of the 
desert and the rippling of the Nile as its waves 
wash the shore or the steamer cuts its waters, it seems 
refreshing to hear once more the moan and the roar 
of the sea, — yes, the sea of romance and thrilling story. 
Of its marvels Homer sung; near its shores stood Tyre, 
Sidon, Alexandria, and Carthage. Over its surface 
sailed Ulysses, and the heroes who rolled the wooden 
horse into old Troy. It was the sea of Darius and 
Saint Paul and brave knights and noble adventurers. 
Across its calm waters Syrians and Hellenes sent 
sweetest music. 

Having sailed for half a day and a night from Alex- 
andria, as the dawn comes, the orient is aglow with 
richest dyes and captivating loveliness. All at once 
anchors are dropped, and behold ! we are in the road- 
stead of Joppa. Half a mile off is the city on a hill, so 
renowned for notable deeds. Somehow goodness never 
grows old ; so Joppa still attracts. It was here Simon 
the tanner dwelt, and Tabitha " did what she could," 
and Peter had his wondrous vision and mysteriously 
called Dorcas from the silent land. 

Going on shore and mingling with the Semitic peo- 
ple, we are immediately made conscious that woman is 



282 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

degraded. Her pitch of voice is on a minor key; and if 
married, she is required on the street to keep her face 
veiled. Lepers are here as of old, praying to be healed. 
The sunny side of this city is beheld, as visits are made 
to Miss Arnott's school of a hundred native girls, to 
the Boys' School of Mrs. Hays, and to Miss Baldwin's 
Hospital, where thousands of the sick are yearly blessed. 
In these latter days as surely as in the ancient, a divine 
brooding appears to be over this quaint city. 

But we are soon away, and over the country to Jerusa- 
lem. We have looked upon this land in autumn and 
spring. How striking the contrast of the two seasons ! 
The one thrills with life, and the other chills with death. 
Now the air is perfumed with odors from orchards and 
gardens and flowers sown copiously over the plain of 
Sharon. Larks are singing and sparrows twittering in 
bush and tree-top. The plain of Sharon is long and 
wide. Ramleh is reached, which is reported to have 
been Arimathea, the abiding-place of Joseph, in whose 
tomb at Jerusalem the body of our Saviour was laid. 
There is naught visible now to tell of the past but the 
ruins of a Saracenic tower and massive vaults which 
were destroyed in the time of the Crusades. A de- 
tour of five miles to the north brings us into the village 
of Lydda, or the site of ancient Lud. Here two women 
are grinding at the mill, as in former times. Probably 
they have not seen more than thirty summers, yet they 
look old enough to be sisters of Methuselah. Here are 
the ruins of the Church of St. George, the patron saint 
of England. 

Returning to Ramleh, on we push across the plain 



PALESTINE. 283 

and at length to the foot of the mountains. Now the 
carriage-road is up and over rocky spurs and into 
stony wadies. The rose of Sharon is often seen and 
plucked by the way. Every crest and nook where there 
is any soil, is starred with flowers. Just over a summit 
stands a little village, with the least imaginable attraction 
till tradition reveals Emmaus. A halo of light seems 
to fall upon it at once, and all Nature appears to repeat 
the refrain, " Abide with us, for the day is far spent." 
As the heights are gained, the mountain-tops are be*- 
yond counting. It would be difficult on map or canvas 
to display all the elevations and depressions. The pre- 
vailing rock is lime, and as it becomes pulverized by 
heat and cold and gas, it makes just the soil to grow 
corn and flowers. As the sun is declining, of a sud- 
den we turn to the eastward, and lo ! there stands mod- 
ern Jerusalem, marking the spot of ancient Jerusalem. 
Entranced the emotions seem to be, as the slanting 
sunlight glints lofty walls, battlements, domes, and 
minarets. The view is glorious ! How enraptured 
must have been the hearts of those who looked from 
this point upon the city of Solomon ! That city was 
more than Athens, or Rome, or Thebes with its hundred 
gates, or Babylon with its Babel-tower. It is surprising 
that a city should have stood so far inland on mountains, 
and surrounded by higher mountains, which should have 
had such an influence, religiously and politically, in 
shaping and deciding the destinies of nations and races. 
Ah ! this is the spot where Abraham bowed in per- 
fect submission; where David chanted sweetest lays; 
where Christ uttered that sublimest prayer, " Father, 



284 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

forgive them, for they know not what they do ; " and 
where he rose from the dead, bringing Hfe and immor- 
tahty to light. Why, this is enough to render the very 
dust of that city forever memorable, — yea, " the very 
joy of the whole earth " ! 

But the spell is broken as the glow of the sun is with- 
drawn from tower and minaret, and we hasten down and 
into the city before the stars shine out. 

The distance traversed to-day has been thirty-five 
miles. 

The modern city is surrounded by walls two and one 
fourth English miles in extent and from thirty to fifty 
feet high. It is situated some twenty-three hundred 
feet above the sea. Its latitude corresponds to that 
of Charleston, S. C. It has always been regarded as 
having a healthy and beautiful location. It stands on 
the debris of some twenty other cities ; so to get at the 
original site, it would be necessary to go down twenty, 
thirty, sixty, and even a hundred feet. 

The city now is said to have more than forty-five thou- 
sand inhabitants. More than half of these are Jews, and 
the rest are Greeks, Italians, Arabs, Turks, Copts, Arme- 
nians, and Protestants. The city has more than doubled 
its population within the last twenty years. In 1870 
there were but a few buildings without the walls, now 
nearly half of the people live outside of them. The re- 
ligiousness of the city is what draws. It is divided into 
four quarters as of old, but not separated as the ancient 
was by walls. Mount Zion is the highest quarter. Per- 
haps no other word has animated and saddened so 
many hearts as that of "Zion." The Jew loves it; 



PALESTINE. 285 

the Christian cherishes it ; even the world finds in it the 
sweetest euphony. It is expressive of the highest joys 
and deepest sorrows. " Zion ! " — who can fathom its full 
significance? We have walked round and over Mount 
Zion. It certainly is full of enchantment. Valleys en- 
compass it, and hills cluster close to it. Its outlook to 
the east is upon Olivet, towering two hundred and 
twenty feet above it. Hither came David, and builded a 
splendid palace and made a grand abiding-place for the 
Ark. Because of this, Mount Zion became very dear to 
Israel, and the Psalmist was inspired to sing " Mount Zion 
is the joy of the whole earth ! " Here his tomb was cut 
into the solid rock; and as his spirit ascended, his body 
was laid therein. The history of Mount Zion is more 
than drama ; it is truly tragedy. When in its complete 
state, why should it not remain so ? It was captured by 
the King of Egypt ; a second time it was taken by the 
Philistines ; a third time it was demolished by Joash ; a 
fourth time by the Assyrians ; a fifth and sixth time by 
Nebuchadnezzar; so it was destroyed and restored, till 
in Herod's day, when it was thought to be too strong to 
be thrown down ; but the Roman legions came upon it, 
and it fell. Where the towers stood and the palaces re- 
flected beauty, the Arab rides his steed and the Bedouin 
watches for his prey. 

But Mount Zion is not forgotten. Eighteen hundred 
years have elapsed since Jerusalem's terrible overthrow, 
yet it now appears as though the time is not far off 
when it will be restored. The Jews are flocking to it 
and kissing its very stones, as a promise that it is to rise 
in glory again. Here they have two synagogues, not 



286 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

gorgeous, but crowded to overflowing on the Sabbath 
with earnest worshippers, reading the Scriptures and 
chanting Psalms. You see them in their waihng on 
Friday afternoon at the foot of Mount Zion to the rear 
of the wall that stood behind the Temple, and you 
would judge them endued afresh with the Holy Ghost. 
There are indications that Christ as the Messiah is com- 
ing to be recognized by them. Christian bells now send 
their peals to all parts of Mount Zion. Its gates are 
open all the night, and under the starlight we have 
walked about it in perfect safety; but when here twenty 
years ago nothing of the kind could have been done. 
Now the friars of St. John have full freedom to nurse the 
sick, and the Sisters of charity to bless the poor. There 
is need of Christianity here, for lepers are common and 
the afflicted go about the streets finding no comfort. 
Let the banner of Christianity wave on its summit ; and 
if gilded domes and spires do not glisten, the joys of 
Mount Zion will be but the reflection of the joys of Zion 
on high. 

Mount Moriah is still adorned with the most perfect 
structure in the city, the Mosque of Omar. No doubt it 
stands over the foundations of Solomon's Temple, which 
cost more than thirty billion five hundred million dollars. 
A little to the west was the Temple of the Knights of 
St. John in the age of the Crusades, but now is the 
Mosque of Achsa, beneath which are numerous arches 
made of vast blocks of stone. These are called the 
Stalls of Solomon, where were kept four thousand 
horses. In another part of Moriah is the Pool of Be- 
thesda, so noted for its healing waters, but at present its 



PALESTINE. 287 

tides no longer rise and fall. Near by is a large harem 
where hosts of wives belonging to a few Turkish officers 
reside. As these go forth at early morning or late in 
the afternoon to the Moslem cemetery to pray for their 
departed husbands, they look like ghosts, being com- 
pletely hooded and dressed in white. 

Bezetha, signifying the new city, is the name applied 
to the northeast quarter, and is occupied largely by Mo- 
hammedans. Through it runs the " Street of Sorrows," 
along which it is said our Saviour was led to crucifixion. 

Akra is the northwest portion, and received the name 
from the citadel which once stood here. This is the 
Christian quarter, where Protestants, Catholics, and those 
of the Greek Church dwell. Here is the Pool of Heze- 
kiah, connected by an aqueduct with the Upper Pool of 
Gihon outside of the city, and connected by an open 
channel with the Pools of Solomon, nine miles distant, 
which are three in number, some five hundred feet long, 
three hundred wide, and sixty deep. All these mon- 
strous works were made in the time of Solomon. There 
are now five gates to the city. Near the Jaffa Gate is 
the Tower of Hippicus. This was built by Herod, and 
named after a friend. For largeness, beauty, and 
strength he judged it to surpass all other structures 
of the globe. By the Damascus Gate we descend into 
an immense quarry under the city, where the stones 
were split out and shaped for the Temple. Huge blocks 
are still here, half finished. As we see these and this 
cavern, we can understand how the stones might all 
have been put in shape for the Temple so , as to have 
been laid without any noise of the hammer. 



288 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

A day is spent with an engineer in wandering through 
avenues opened up beneath the city and outside of it. 
Great discoveries have already been made, and greater 
remain to be disclosed. Were the Government not 
hostile to foreigners and opposed to archaeological ex- 
aminations, strangest things would soon be disclosed. 
The Turkish rule is so conservative it keeps the city 
from making much progress. Were it enterprising, 
certain kinds of business might become very success- 
ful, but now everything drags. It takes three men, 
as affairs move, to shoe a horse. ^ Within the last 
few years more than a hundred Protestant schools 
have been closed in the land by the order of the 
Sultan. 

The Jews who are flocking hither are mostly poor, 
and rely on foreign aid for homes and support. Still, 
Jerusalem is bound to continue, and the region around 
to become thoroughly explored, because this will be for 
the interest of the world. 

After walking and riding round the city, visiting the 
Cave of Jeremiah, the tombs of the Kings, the supposed 
tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, the Valley of Hinnom, 
the Field of Aceldama, the Pool of Siloam, the Kedron, 
the Garden of Gethsemane, and the spot where Stephen 
was stoned to death, we are conscious that the real is 
more than the imagined, and that to understand many 
things in the Old and New Testaments you must read 
them on these very spots. The more we study Jerusa- 
lem, the grander and more mysterious it becomes. It 
is the city of cities. The fact that Prophets have wrought 
in it, that Apostles have preached in it, and most of all. 



PALESTINE. 289 

that Christ suffered and rose from the dead in it, is suf- 
ficient to render it the chief of cities. 

From the brow of OHvet, in the clearest light to the 
eastward, we catch glimpses of Nebo and Pisgah ; still 
nearer does the eye observe the valley of the Jordan, 
and a patch of the glistening waters of the Dead Sea, 
thirty-five hundred feet below this summit; hill upon 
hill throughout the wilderness of Judaea arrests the 
vision. Just a Sabbath-day's journey from us is the 
little city of Bethany, where Jesus so often rested, and 
where he turned the great sorrow of Mary and Martha 
into ecstatic joy. Six miles to the south of Jerusalem 
is Bethlehem, or where Bethlehem was. when the stars 
shone out so entrancingly, and angels sang, " Peace on 
earth and good will to men," so enchanting the shep- 
herds on the plains just below the city that they could 
but sing for joy, glorifying God. 

Now we journey over the hills and through the vales 
on horseback, tenting out for twenty-four days from 
Jerusalem to Damascus and Beyroot. To the left is 
Mizpeh, where Samuel was buried, and Saul was chosen 
king. Its name signifies " a place of lookout." Under 
its shadow is Gibeon, where once stood a royal city, but 
the royalty is not now visible. To the right is Gibeah, 
on the hill-top, where Saul was born; at present it is 
a mass of stones. Proceeding northward, the loneliness 
of the country becomes oppressive. On sunny slopes 
among the rocks, grapes, figs, and olives are thriving, 
but no houses are to be seen. The stones keep multi- 
plying, and are separated into massive blocks, so numer- 
ous that the horses are obliged to pick their way. For 

19 



290 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

miles only a few straggling human figures enter into 
the landscape. Of a sudden the attention is arrested 
by cries and shrieks from the hillside, and behold ! 
forty men, women, and children are hobbling over the 
rough pasture, apparently in greatest distress. It is 
soon made manifest that this is a funeral, and that the 
corpse is being borne across the country for burial. 
The women who are screeching and combing their 
snarled hair with their fingers are hired to act in just 
that way. Really, they show themselves experts at the 
business. 

We pass Shiloh, but discover no Benjaminites con- 
cealed among the vines, springing out to capture two 
hundred fair damsels. There is now nothing but beau- 
tiful flowers to mark the spot. Still, the fact that Eli 
died here will make it attractive while stones shall en- 
dure. Onward for three hours, and Gerizim and Ebal 
are lifted above us. In fancy we see Abraham just en- 
tering this valley-plain from far-off Ur, pitching his 
tent under a terebinth, and erecting perchance the first 
altar to the one living God. Then it was here that 
Jacob had a home ; for there, only a few feet from us, 
is the well he dug, of whose waters he and his family 
and flocks drank. Here it was that Jesus held that 
surprising interview with the Samaritan woman. A 
short distance on, and we are by the tomb of Joseph. 
When he came to die in Egypt, his thoughts turned to 
the old home, and he prayed that he might be buried 
there ; and love tenderly interred him in this spot. 

Nablous occupies the site of Shechem, between Geri- 
zim and Ebal. The city is overhung with bushy foli- 



PALESTINE. 291 

age. Here is the only Samaritan synagogue in the 
world. It is a small structure, without any attempt at 
display. We cannot gain entrance to it, but are 
permitted to stand at the door and look in. The 
high-priest is a young man, exhibiting little of the 
patriarchal dignity; he has two associate priests, and 
one hundred and thirty-five followers. While we are 
waiting at the door, the high-priest passes to the holy 
of holies, and takes out- a venerable parchment in a 
silver case, reported to be a copy of the Law, making 
it more than thirty-five hundred years old. It certainly 
has the appearance of extreme age. 

We climb from this city to the summit of Gerizim, 
which is twenty-six hundred feet high. As the top is 
reached, we have in the clear light of the morning a 
splendid outlook over sea, hills, vales, and villages. 
The whole land seems baptized with a flood of light 
and beauty. Here are the remains of buildings and 
the ruins of the old temple of Gerizim. On the north 
side are pointed out ten stones which a white-headed 
Samaritan says were brought by the order of Joshua 
from the Jordan to Gilgal and afterward to Gerizim. 
Here it was that Joshua gathered the Israelites, and read 
to them the Laws of Moses. Indeed, this is historic 
ground ; and as the natural beauty is blended with the 
ancient annals, it becomes resplendently glorious. 

On leaving Nablous, which is a city of ten thousand 
inhabitants, for a long distance we are riding through 
orchards of olives and pomegranates. As the city is 
left, we pass fields of rank wheat and timothy grass. 
Soon we see flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and 



292 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

horses scattered over the thousand hills. The flowers 
become more countless than the stars. At Samaria we 
see where Jonah failed of fulfilling duty, where Elijah 
gained a victory over the King of Damascus, and where 
Herod had a splendid city. In the heat of the day 
we cross the Plain of Esdraelon. We drink from the 
Kishon, where Barak with his ten thousand men over- 
came the hundred thousand footmen and nine hundred 
chariots of Sisera. We eat our luncheon in a garden 
of Shunam. We cross the flank of Little Hermon, and 
pass through the city of Nain. W^e ride through fields of 
grain and over broad meadows sweet scented with thyme 
and myrrh, and climb steepest hillsides, till we have the 
broadest view over lands and seas, while close under 
us is Nazareth nestled in the mountain-top. It is in- 
deed isolated, but offers the greatest diversity of scen- 
ery. The air, light, and water are unsurpassed. In 
the quiet of these highlands Christ spent his childhood, 
youth, and manhood. Here Joseph and Mary watched 
over and blessed their beloved. Here Jesus pushed the 
plane and saw, and astonished the Rabbis in the syna- 
gogue. Naught is left of Mary's home or Joseph's 
shop. The present city looks new and prosperous, 
having a population of six thousand. Nature made 
the place beautiful, and Heaven has made it divine, 

A two hours' ride brings us to the summit of Tabor, 
and four hours more to the Mount of Beatitudes, The 
scenery all the way is most delightful. Nature appears 
to have striven to group the greatest variety of vegeta- 
tion, by blending all the zones into one through a diver- 
sity of latitudes. So walnuts, sycamores, olives, figs, 



PALESTINE. 293 

and palms, melons and citrons, wheat, barley, and 
grassy meadows enamelled with myriads of tulips, hya- 
cinths, anemones, lilies, daisies, and buttercups, are to 
be seen. From this elevation we can look upon the 
Sea of Galilee, the sites of Magdala, Capernaum, and 
Bethsaida in connection with other places where Christ 
performed most of his mighty works. It is a joy to 
read Christ's Sermon on the spot where it was first 
delivered. Going down to the sea, it is found to be 
surrounded with enchantments. The music of its waves, 
the lilies along its shores, the legends of its fallen cities 
are of special interest; still, these are of trifling moment, 
when the words are recalled as they first dropped from 
his lips : " Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." 

Days have passed, and many exciting scenes have 
been experienced, and now we are resting for a little 
upon another hill, and lo ! in the distance is Damascus, — 
" the Pearl of the East," " the Mother of the World," 
as the Syrian expresses it. Miles away and close up 
under the mountains is a cluster of towering trees inter- 
mingled with minarets and spires. As we ride on, the 
picture becomes fairer. The Arcadian or the Elysian 
Fields dim in contrast with what is just ahead. We 
have arrived at the cross-roads where Paul halted and 
for the first time heard the voice of Jesus, and he be- 
came a new man at once, — so changed in motives ; he 
now loved everybody. This plain henceforth has addi- 
tional attractions because Paul journeyed hither; the 
flowers are fairer and sweeter. 

At last we are threading the streets of Damascus. 



294 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Xhe paving-Stones are uneven, and polished smooth by 
the tread of many feet. We can but chide the high walls 
that shut in the richest perfumes and hide from view 
the fairest gardens. Soon women are beyond counting, 
with jars of water on their heads ; caravans of camels are 
swaying along; donkeys are dodging about; Arabic 
steeds with elegantly costumed riders are stepping short 
and quick. Soon the bazaars nearly dazzle the eye, as 
glimpses are caught of Damascus blades and glistening 
silks. Now the hordes of dogs and human beings are 
immense. At length we turn into a narrow passage, 
and soon a door through the wall opens. Dismounting, 
we step into a court with fountains playing and trees 
golden with oranges ; this is the introduction to our 
hotel. Here we are in a superlatively Oriental city, 
reaching back in history perhaps four thousand years. 
No doubt it is the best-watered city in the world, hav- 
ing the branches of the Barada River coursing through 
its midst. 

The city has its surprises, so we are made to feel, as 
we see in coffee-houses and club-rooms stalwart men 
in variegated colors, sipping their coffee, or smoking 
their chibouks, or cursing the Christians. We discover 
that they watch their wives with jealousy and mani- 
fest extreme tenderness to the dogs lying in the streets. 
Their very faces, as they gaze at Christian pilgrims, 
wear a seriousness which convinces you that they would 
enjoy another massacre like that of i860. As you 
study them in public or private places, you are led to 
believe that the Damascenes are not so anxious for 
national prosperity as for Moslem supremacy. Islam- 



PALESTINE. 295 

ism can flourish only under the clash of arms and the 
excitement of the battlefield. 

The street called Straight is the one Paul walked, and 
is the street of bazaars, which are abundantly supplied 
with scarfs, table-spreads, kaffiyehs, signet-rings, attar of 
roses from Bagdad and Canton, and everything else ; 
and if you buy and do not pay more than a third of 
the first price, you are certain to pay twice what you 
should. One cannot endure Damascus without a deal 
of toleration. In Rome the Pope holds sway, in Cairo 
the pasha, in England Victoria; but in Damascus it 
is Mohammed, though he has been dead a thousand 
years. 

Our last look at this city is like a fairy picture. 
The air is balmy and the light as clearest crystal. We 
have climbed high up the side of Salaheeyah to the 
west, and as we turn our horses, we have the famous 
view of Damascus ; and the first sweep of the eye leads 
us to exclaim that we have seen nothing like this from 
Olivet, Carmel, or Tabor ! As the slender tops of 
poplars and osiers blend with minarets in the sunlight, 
we are reminded of delicate lacework hung in the sky, 
or of precious stones reflecting curious shapes and en- 
vironed with liveliest emeralds and deepest azure. No 
language can paint such a picture. It is not strange, 
as the legend reports, that the Prophet standing on this 
height with his eye fastened on the city should have 
said, " I cannot enter it, for I can enter Paradise but 
once." 

Two days' ride from this point brings us to the City 
of the Sun, — Baalbek. Its walls are less than a mile 



296 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

in extent, but most of the stones in it are gigantic. 
One of the largest, which is twenty feet from the 
ground, is sixty-five feet long, twelve wide, and thirteen 
feet high. Passing within the walls, the ruins surviv- 
ing the shock of war and earthquake are extremely 
grand and beautiful. The builders must have been re- 
ligious and cultured. The columns, entablatures, friezes, 
capitals, pilasters, cornices, and other decorations are 
expressive of genius, taste, skill, and power. Its history 
reaches far back into the unknown. As we listen to 
the siren of the past, we hear the hum of this city in 
the reign of Solomon, and as Moses was leading the 
Israelites toward the Promised Land ; later we hear the 
tread of Grecian feet and the rattle of Augustan arms ; 
and still nearer the plaintive prayer of the Islamite, 
terminating in the refrain, " Live forever." Finally, the 
last glimpse of Baalbek was lost in the distance as we 
rode down the rich valley cradled between the Great 
and Little Lebanon Mountains, and the snowy peaks 
dropped upon us the costliest glow of amethyst, ver- 
milion, and gold, giving the assurance that if man's 
works crumble and fade, the works of God will endure 
and increase in glory. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EPHESiJS. 

FOR days we coast along Asia Minor. We enjoy 
a fine view of Rhodes, with its vales and moun- 
tains, which was anciently thickly settled and noted 
for its liberty and culture, and in modern times has 
been the field of bravest deeds wrought by the Knights 
of St. John of Jerusalem. We sail along the coast 
of rocky Patmos, and recall how that desolate shore 
was once traversed by Saint John as he was banished 
thither by Domitian. There he had visions of the New 
Jerusalem, and wrote his Revelation. Beautiful Samos 
smiles upon us, and flings out to us sweetest odors. 
As we see its natural beauties, we can scarcely doubt 
the statement of mythology that man first gazed upon 
mortal things here. Then, too, history affirms that 
Pythagoras was born here, who has moved the world by 
his philosophy; and hither came Herodotus and dwelt 
while he wrote most of his History. We sight fair 
Lesbos, which was once the rival of Athens in art and 
song, and the home of Sappho, who touched the lyre 
and sweetest music dropped from its strings. As we 
view Tenedos, we think of the old Greeks when rallying 
here for the siege of Troy. 

As our steamer sails out of Ionian waters, we enter 
the Bay of Smyrna. In this May night the scene is 



298 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

beautiful. Hills and mountains extend far around ; the 
placid waters are mirroring from the depths every ob- 
ject of the land. Villages are fringing the shore, while 
in front and in the centre is the city, backed by a lofty 
hill, crowned with a huge castle, within whose walls 
once stood one of the Seven Churches where the noble 
Polycarp ministered to hungering hearts, and where his 
ashes now rest on the slope of the hill. This is one of 
the cities which claims to be the birthplace of Homer, 
and the grotto where he wrote most of his Iliad is 
pointed out. It is now largely a Greek city, of more 
than two hundred thousand inhabitants. It is, and long 
has been, a commercial city. The country around is 
rich in soil, producing rankest vegetation. But like 
most of the cities of the Levant, it is more charming in 
the distance than close at hand. Still, it is possessed 
of many good buildings and pleasant homes. No city 
could have a more fascinating site ; even in some re- 
spects Athens and Edinburgh do not equal it. However, 
it has experienced severe drawbacks through frequent 
earthquakes ; nevertheless the people love it, and cling 
to it, as one of the finest spots of the globe. 

We come to this city mainly for the purpose of visit- 
ing Ephesus, which is about fifty miles in a southerly 
course by rail. The day selected for the visit is ushered 
in with brightest promise. At seven in the morning we 
take the train, whose engine and cars are of English con- 
struction. Our course is out among highlands and 
lowlands, past gardens and fields and ruins, and through 
morasses and pastures and wildest lands, where the fox 
and wolf and eagle have their haunts for the most part 



EPHESUS. 299 

undisturbed. After two hours' ride at moderate speed, 
we come into the midst of mountains with wooded sides 
and bald summits. Some of the outcropping stones are 
abrupt and ragged. Thus far we have passed only a 
few small settlements. Now, as we look from the car 
window, on a hill rising in the valley we can see a huge 
fortification, and across the plain are stretching the ruins 
of an ancient aqueduct. Soon we are at a halt, and at 
the station of Ayasaluk, or Ephesus. Yes, here we are 
landed in not exactly a solitude, but in a desolate place 
to all appearance. It is true there are a few habitations 
where a low order of human beings lives, and as we 
survey the visible facts we ask, Can this be the place 
where once a great city stood, having in it six hundred 
thousand souls and a temple which was counted among 
the Seven Wonders of the world? Verily we are on a 
picturesque plain ; hills and mountains rise above us to 
the east, north, and west; to the south is an opening to 
the sea which is miles away. The valley in which we 
find ourselves is irregular and oblong, extending from 
the northeast to the southwest, through whose centre 
course the Cayster and Selinus Rivers, as of yore. 
Scanning and meditating, we can but ask, Is it possible 
that " The Light of Asia " once stood here, the capital 
of Ionia, dating from the times of fable and myth? Ac- 
cording to Homer, it was on the Cayster, not far from 
the Ionian Sea, among the reeds where the swans were 
wont to scream, and whose docks were alive with buzzing 
traffic. According to report, the children of Israel re- 
sorted hither for trade. Here, too, Paul came, and in 
the synagogue taught of the one living and true God, 



300 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

and of the resurrection from the dead. Here he was 
persecuted by infuriated idolaters. Here in the suburb 
of the great city, it is said, he established a little church, 
where Timothy ministered, and which Saint John and 
Saint Luke visited. 

As we look around, we see now no signs of that splen- 
did temple which took two hundred and twenty-five 
years to complete. It was the grandest of all extant, be- 
ing four hundred and twenty-five feet long, two hundred 
and twenty feet wide, sixty feet high, and supported by 
one hundred and twenty-seven columns, from seven to 
nine feet in diameter. Chersiphron was the architect; 
Praxiteles chiselled the altar; Scopus cut the pillars; 
and Apelles painted and hung in it a picture of the 
great Alexander, who had offered to rebuild the temple 
when it was burned by Erastratus, if the Ephesians 
would permit him to inscribe his name on the facade. 
Within stood the great statue of Diana, the goddess of 
the Ephesians. Is it possible that all this has been 
obliterated? How true it is that men come and go, like 
the ebb and f^ow of the sea! Is it always to be thus on 
the earth, — this incoming and outgoing? 

But let us now survey somewhat carefully the place, 
and ascertain what is left of old Ephesus. From the 
east our way is towards the west. From the mountain 
to our rear for many rods extends a Roman aqueduct, 
resting upon piers from twenty to forty feet high. We 
can now count twenty or more storks roosting upon 
the highest portions. As we advance, we pass several 
Islam mosques, small in size, but Oriental in style. 
A third of a mile hence we come into the thickest part 



EPHESUS. 301 

of the little village, whose diminutive houses are made 
of brick and stone which evidently have been used for 
some other purpose. We find the briers and brambles 
rank and thick. We turn to the right and ascend the 
castle hill over piles of debris, under an archway whose 
decaying sculptures speak of beauty and antiquity. 
The old fortification on the top of the hill is of medi- 
aeval times, but we find marbles of various descriptions 
scattered about, which have had a place in some public 
building. Descending from the fort and keeping our 
course to the west a hundred rods, we come to the 
foundations of the Temple of Diana. Here are to be 
seen some of the piers on which the immense columns 
stood, and remnants of the walls of the three different 
temples built upon the same site, also the foundations 
of the great altar, and more than two hundred drums of 
the columns placed around the temple. The grounds 
have been opened up, so that its walls or fencing can be 
easily traced. It would seem that the temple stood 
between the two most thickly settled portions of the 
city, though the larger population must have been to 
the west, on the sides of Mount Coressus, whose incli- 
nation is to the temple. At the base of this mount, 
which rises up several hundred feet, and backed by 
Mount Prion, whose summit must be fifteen hundred 
feet above the plain on which the temple stood, we 
find many cavities which were cut into the solid rock 
evidently for tombs. At its base are the remains of a 
monument which is supposed to mark the tomb of 
Androcles, who founded a city at Ephesus eleven centu- 
ries before the Christian era. In some of these openings 



302 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

have been discovered sarcophagi, in one of which were 
fourteen skeletons. Proceeding along this elevation, we 
come to the Magnesian Gate ; it has three openings, 
two for chariots and one for foot-passengers. Entering 
within, we soon are in the Gymnasium, which is so pre- 
served that we can trace out all its parts. From the 
Gymnasium we can see along the side of Mount Prion 
the fortified wall built by Lysimachus. Advancing, we 
soon come to the ruins of a basilica which is believed 
to have been converted into a church and dedicated to 
Saint Luke ; and near by is a circular structure which is 
regarded by some as the tomb of Saint Luke, — for he is 
believed to have died here, as well as Saints John and 
Timothy; possibly their ashes mingle together in this 
desolate tomb. In another spot, and farther to the west, 
we come to the Odeon, or Opera House, whose prosce- 
nium, stage, and orchestra can be seen. In another 
part is the Theatre, which was capable of holding 
twenty-five thousand persons ; here are many Greek 
and Latin inscriptions. We next come to the Forum 
with its Agora, and then to the Great Gymnasium, 
which stood at the head of the Port. After this sur- 
vey we are ready to admit that Ephesus in the time 
of Paul must have been a splendid city. Then its 
inhabitants could have little thought that it was to 
perish and many of its treasures were to be borne to 
other cities to adorn temples and churches. It was 
beautiful for situation and fortunate in its builders. In 
its zenith it was one of the most famous cities of the 
earth. It was a centre of scholarship, philosophy, and 
religion. The Ephesians were, however, living rather 



EPHESUS. 303 

for show than substance. They were worshipping mainly 
Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Diana, and minor deities. Of 
course the IsraeHtes then were as the Israehtes are now, 
given to the worship of one God. But when Paul entered 
the city, he desired to lead scholar and religionist to a 
higher plane of thinking and living. So for three years 
at different periods he wrought here, preaching " Christ 
and the resurrection from the dead." Here he labored 
in the synagogue, refuted false philosophies, taught in 
the school of Tyrranus, and wrote a letter to the Corin- 
thians, which is one of the most remarkable intellectual 
and spiritual productions. In it he treats of the earthly 
and the heavenly, so using the material as to throw the 
clearest light upon the immortal. Here, too, he com- 
posed his Epistle to the Galatians, defining the relations 
of Jews and Gentiles to the Church of Christ. It is a 
privilege to walk among the ruins of an opulent city, but 
a far greater one to stand where Paul wrote some of the 
grandest sentiments ever given to humanity, and where 
he established a Christian Church in the age of moral 
darkness, to which he sent from Rome a quickening 
epistle, the grammar of which is complete, the logic 
strong, and the thought profound. Ah ! if the material 
crumbles away, the spiritual lives. 

Ephesus had an Acropolis in the eastern part and 
one in the western. It must have been one of the 
fairest cities when the Apostle dwelt in it. Its natural 
advantages were great. The meadows, rocks, hills, 
mountains, woods, and skies, all conspired to fill it 
with special interest. 

As we look around, and see the ruins in their wasted 



304 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

condition among the greatest variety of most beautiful 
flowers, we are moved to inquire, What must it have 
been in its most improved state? It has peculiar at- 
tractions now, though the eagle screams above it, the 
storks nest upon its walls, and jackals burrow among 
its ruins. If it is the home of outward desolation, it 
is the abiding-place of richest associations and divine 
suggestions. No one can exhaust all the lessons it can 
impart. If it is the grave of boasted greatness, light 
falls upon it from that other shore, and the voice of 
the sainted is still saying, " As we have borne the image 
of the earthy, so we shall bear the image of the heav- 
enly." If it no longer can be said here, " Great is Diana 
of the Ephesians," with joy it can be affirmed, " If our 
earthly house be dissolved, we have a building of God, 
eternal in the heavens ! " 




TEMPLE OF THESEUS AND ACROPOLIS. 



CHAPTER X. 

ATHENS. 

/^NCE more in the JEgean Sea, we are sailing past 
the island of Chios, which claims Homer as her 
own son, asserting that here he first recited his epic 
songs. No wonder the lonians delighted to sail over 
these waters and dwell upon these islands, which look 
so inviting and are sending to us on the breezes the 
sweetest perfumes. Almost too soon we are approach- 
ing the mainland on the west, and a voice whispers, 
" This is classic Greece," — the country that dips down 
into the sea and rises up, touching the sky in more 
points than any other land of equal area. Nature 
plainly intended it to be the home of the calm and the 
austere, the beautiful and the sublime. It presents the 
greatest possible diversity blended into perfect unity. 
It is not strange that its earliest inhabitants, whether 
Hellenes or Pelasgians, or both, should have believed 
in fairies and fates ; for as you tread its soil, you realize 
there is something peculiar here in the land, sea, and 
sky. Somehow an inevitable mystery broods over it. 
Mythical tales and legendary songs are so indigenous 
to the soil, and so crowded with fiction and facts, as 
to fascinate scholars all along the centuries. Who does 
not like to read the stories relating how Cecrops, sailing 
from Egypt, founded Cecropia ; how Pelops, emigrating 



306 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

from Phrygia, settled Sparta; and how Cadmus, desert- 
ing Phcenicia, built up Mycenae? Is it not pleasing to 
peruse the traditional accounts of Theseus remodelling 
the Constitution of Athens, making it the centre of jus- 
tice after slaying Minotaur, who had devoured a ship- 
load of Athenian young men and maidens; of Jason's 
ransacking the Euxine Sea in his Argosian craft, search- 
ing after the Golden Fleece, and in the successful voy- 
age capturing the daughter of the King of Colchis, 
making himself happy by rendering others miserable ; 
of Menelaus, whose Helen was treacherously seized 
by Paris and borne far off to Troy, causing the Trojan 
war, thus affording a theme for the heroic poems of 
Homer? 

Many are the pleasures that are sure to be experienced 
by seekers after Grecian thought and life. Enough 
springs from fable to prove that the Hellenic race was 
particularly fond of the beautiful, as expressed in 
poetry, painting, sculpture, and music. No doubt 
those early lays they sang and the epics they recited 
at length developed into the finished drama and the 
perfected tragedy. This pristine singing and reciting 
may have enabled Homer to produce his immortal 
poems. Looking upon the relics, we are forced to the 
conclusion that religion was at the bottom of all this 
peculiar life. Possibly this is the secret something that 
imparts such a spell, and enwraps hearts with such de- 
votion to the Grecian land and literature. 

From the time Herodotus wrote, this country has 
been largely given to matters of fact ; and as we travel 
over it, things seem real. We visit the plain of Mar- 



ATHENS. 307 

athon, and this can be no other than the field on which 
Miltiades led his daring ten thousand against the 
Persian myriads, and nobly won the day. Go to 
Thermopylae, and this is verily the Narrow Pass where 
brave Leonidas with his three hundred Spartans with- 
stood for days the terrible pressure of Xerxes' mighty 
force. 

As we sail into the Bay of Salamis or walk along 
the shore, imagination pictures the Persian king as 
having fired Athens and, fleeing five miles away, seated 
himself on the lofty mound that rises from the shore 
of the bay. The Athenians have taken refuge on the 
island of Salamis, a short distance off. Persian infantry 
are marching overland, and Persian galleys are sailing 
into the bay. Xerxes is full of hope on his sublime 
throne. The night passes ; the day dawns. Themis- 
tocles sails out from behind the island with a few 
triremes. The fight begins; it is the few against the 
many. High noon pours down its scorching light 
upon the flashing blades, but no victory is won; yet 
as the stars shine out, Xerxes is a vanquished king, 
and Themistocles an honored hero. 

Inspect the bay to-day, and how different it is from 
what it was four hundred and eighty years before the 
Christian era ! Now no triremes or galleys are floating 
on its waters, but instead may be seen a hundred sail- 
ing-vessels and nearly half that number of merchant 
steamers. 

History and imagination enable us to behold ancient 
Athens restored. Themistocles is surrounding it with 
walls reaching down to the sea. The gifted Pericles 



308 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

is soon at the head of the government. He endeavors 
to carry out the work already begun. Huge blocks 
of marble are being brought from Pentelicus and 
Paros. The chisels of Phidias and Callicrates are 
ringing. The former is cutting statues of Athene, 
and the latter is building the Parthenon. Calli- 
machus, Coroebus, and Xenocles are called to their 
assistance. In a few years the Acropolis is crowned 
with the most exquisitely beautiful temples and ele- 
gant works of art. 

We climb Mars Hill, and here is the ledge on which 
the Athenian Tribunal was wont to be held. Here 
Socrates was tried and condemned. Here it was Saint 
Paul made one of his profoundest and most convincing 
arguments. 

Crossing the Agora, we come to the Pnyx Hill, on 
whose rocky bema Pericles stood when he pronounced 
his orations, and where Demosthenes delivered his in- 
spiring philippics. On the south side of the Acropolis 
we survey the remains of the first theatre of which his- 
tory speaks, where Thespis presented the first comedy 
and went upon the stage himself as an actor. Here 
.^schylus was published to the world in his trochaic 
and iambic measures. Here Sophocles' Antigone and 
CEdipus were played, delighting and instructing the 
elite of the city. Here Euripides brought out practical 
truths in poetical lines, making himself the Shakspeare 
of that old period. A little to the west is the Odeum, 
where vast audiences used to be seated, listening to 
sweetest music. Thus, as one looks through the eye 
of history, he discovers a cultured life swarming in these 



ATHENS. 309 

romantic spots. He searches out Aristotle's Garden 
and Plato's Academy, and these speak through logic 
and philosophy of abiding principles. Examining this 
ancient life and its refinement, we can but query, Why 
should it have become wasted? As its history is fol- 
lowed through the centuries, it is ascertained that it 
was accomplished not through Persian might, but by 
internal strife and dissensions. It was Sparta against 
Athens, and Corinth against both. Sin and corruption 
took on refined shapes, and so were all the more dan- 
gerous and disintegrating. 

At length Peloponnesus invited Rome to assist her; 
and she, like the lion, was willing, with the chance of 
taking the bigger half herself. So, when the West 
thought she had conquered the East, Rome just took 
them both, and at once the glory of Sparta vanished, 
and the art beauty of Athens was broken into frag- 
ments. The Roman Mummius bore off the most mag- 
nificent sculptures from Corinth and Athens to adorn 
his own city. Thus the fair land of Hellas from that 
date to the present century was swallowed up by the 
Roman sovereignty and the Turkish dominion. Though 
a captive, Greece has conquered her captors through 
her arts, poetry, and philosophy. These have expressed 
themselves throughout the wide world, and are still de- 
claring the greatness and glory of ancient Greece, 

What would civilization be, if deprived of Athenian 
poetry, philosophy, proverbs, and aphorisms? At least 
there would be experienced an irreparable loss. This 
fact is encouraging, however, that at present Attica and 
the whole of Greece are reviving. The new Athens of 



3IO ROUND THE GLOBE. 

a hundred thousand people is an attractive city. It 
would seem that much of the old Spartan and Athe- 
nian blood is still coursing human veins. Though the 
citizens are disposed to let the Acropolis and other 
ruins stand in their sublime silence, yet they are por- 
traying the beautiful in the style of their houses and 
public buildings. These are being made out of marble 
and adorned with exquisitely cut statues of ancient 
savans. Pantheism is no longer rife here, but Chris- 
tianity as manifested through the Greek and Protestant 
churches. Should Paul return to the new city, he 
would discover nowhere the inscription, " To the un- 
known God," but instead he would see church edifices 
pointing to the one living God, and schoolhouses speak- 
ing for the education of the whole people. 

The scenery here is just as varied and enchanting as 
when Socrates moralized and Pericles ruled. If it 
should continue to grow as it has since we were here 
in 1870, it will not be long before modern Athens will 
be a most imposing city, — yes, a classic city, if the 
cause of education moves on as it has for the last twenty 
years. Her university of two thousand students, her 
normal school of five hundred young women, and her 
public schools filled with all her children from six to 
fourteen years of age, are unfailing assurances of pros- 
perity and enlightenment. Let her go on, and the Attic 
Plain will become more alive than ever before. The 
modern emulates the past. In the Athenian homes 
Xenophon, Plutarch, Herodotus, and Homer are read 
as we read Bancroft, Emerson, Whittier, and Mrs. 
Stowe. The modern Greek laneuaare is one of the 



ATHENS. 3 1 1 

most euphonic, and is becoming highly perfected 
through the study of the Greek classics. 

Twenty years ago brigands were the scourge of the 
country, but they have all disappeared. The people 
are active and polite in their shops, stores, and public 
places. Most of them are industrious and hopeful. 
They feel that their country has suffered most unjustly 
by Turkish greed, and they are resolved upon redress 
through brains and arms. To say the least, the Greeks 
are a peculiar and remarkable people. They love their 
country and its history. Who knows but, with their 
present tendencies and great natural advantages, they 
will make the Greece of the future surpass the Greece 
of the past? 



CHAPTER XI. 

ITALY AND MALTA. 

A STEAMER lands us next at Brindisi, Italy, 
What a change has come over this city within 
a few years ! Not long ago it was so filthy that the 
cholera seemed bound to stay in it. In this spring-time 
it has donned its best attire. The oak, myrtle, chestnut, 
olive, and mulberry are putting on their freshest foliage ; 
the arbutus, lilac, and jessamine are burdening the 
winds with their perfume. The villas scattered around 
the bay, embowered among thick shade-trees, appear 
winsome and wooing. The deepest blue sky drops to 
the horizon, holding all in its embrace. We find it is 
market-day on shore. On the sale-grounds are beauti- 
ful bouquets, fruits in large quantities, loaves of bread 
piled high, pie-plants, melons, and potatoes in heaps, 
fish fresh from the sea, and meats direct from the 
slaughter-house. Hither and thither the people are 
flocking, — some selling and others buying. Some faces 
are handsome, and others ugly. Coming from the far 
East, where the worst possible condition of civilized 
and uncivilized life is presented, this city seems like 
an Elysium. But the modern cannot equal the an- 
cient. Brindisi is not Brundisium. In the reign of 
the Caesars one of the great roads of Rome terminated 
here. Some of its paving-stones are still visible. Then 




VESUVIUS AXD RUINS OF POMPEII. 



ITALY AND MALTA. 313 

Brundisium was an important town. But, like Rome, 
it waned at last, and became a mass of ruins. However, 
a sad charm clings to the ancient city, bringing many 
a pilgrim hither, because it was here the sweet singer 
of Mantua closed his eyes on mortal things. Who that 
has read the Bucolics, wherein are pictured the fields, 
vines, bees, kine, and great white oxen, and the best 
methods of tilling the soil are shown, can marvel that 
Virgil should still live and be admired? Then the 
Georgics, which have been pronounced the most per- 
fect of Latin compositions, can but fascinate more and 
more, as the flowing measures are studied and the 
deep thoughts treasured up. Th^y are like a polished 
stone most beautiful, which when opened reveals a dia- 
mond within. Then, too, the JEneid, which has been 
read for nearly a score of centuries, is admired more 
than ever. How many minds have been quickened by 
it, and how much inspiration has been breathed into 
souls through its euphonic metres and perfect descrip- 
tions of heroes and heroines ! The spot where such 
a one breathed his last savors of the heavenly. In 
thought we are taken over the Apennines to the city 
of Naples, where we have wandered at different times 
among a people who seem to live outdoors from choice ; 
the broad Chiaja stranding the bay ; the city hugging 
Castle Hill ; the island of Capri, rising like a nymph from 
the sea; the towering of Vesuvius, waving its smoky 
plume; the facchini who start up without any bidding, 
helping from the cars or the hack, clutching at umbrellas 
or valises and running away with them whenever it is 
possible; the rich and poor, riding every afternoon in 



314 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

carriages or carts on the broadest streets, drawn by 
grandest steeds or meanest donkeys ; the cUmbing to 
the top of Vesuvius at four different seasons ; the visits 
to Herculaneum and Pompeii, inspecting villas, temples, 
baths, dead bodies recently exhumed, corn-mills, ovens, 
oil-jars, rings, and precious things, which were buried 
out of sight in A. D. 79, — all these strange objects are 
certain to surprise and allure the seeker after strange 
sights ; but even these did not afford the satisfaction 
that an excursion westward from the city afforded. The 
first object of striking moment was the grave of Virgil, 
situated in a picturesque dell just above the entrance 
to the Grotta di Posilippo. The laurel which Pe- 
trarch planted by it is gone, but ivy hugs about it, and 
Nature seems to caress and tenderly nurse it. It is 
reported that the poet's villa, where he composed his 
Eclogues and Georgics, stood just above it on the hill. 
Leaving this, we went through the Grotto, two thousand 
feet in length, and constructed as a passage for carriages 
two thousand years ago. Beyond this we came to a 
solfatara, which Strabo christened " Forum of Vulcan." 
Farther on we examined Pozzuoli, which was Puteoli, 
where Paul landed on his way to Rome. Here are the 
ruins of the Temple of Jupiter Serapis. Not far on we 
came to the fabled Avernus, where Ulysses descended 
to the infernal regions. But it is no longer a gloomy 
and fearful body of water. Green grass and thrifty 
trees border its shore. In an inner recess by this lake 
is the Sibyl's Cave, where Hannibal is represented as 
sacrificing to Pluto. A tunnel extends from these hot 
waters through the hill three thousand feet to the 



ITALY AND MALTA. 315 

Elyslan Fields, which from their fruitfulness and beauty 
were beHeved to be the home of the Blessed, — so 
the Mantuan Bard wrote. All these scenes Virgil was 
wont to look upon, and so immortalized them in song. 

But the bell of the steamer strikes, calling passengers 
from these haunts and reveries. Soon the steamer is 
ploughing round the southern coast of Italy. The land 
by the sea sweeps back into vast- plains which are wav- 
ing green with grass and wheat. In less than a day we 
sight Sicily, and with the glass can inspect Etna, lifted 
ten thousand feet into the sky. In a few hours more 
Malta (formerly Melita) is disclosed. Possibly we are 
looking upon the very coast where Paul was wrecked. 
We can but recall that his voyage had been most 
hazardous. Still, when the captain and sailors had 
given up in despair, the Apostle was considerate and 
trustful. He had been faithful to God and man; why 
should he fear? Such loyalty never falters, but is sure 
of final triumph. Approaching nearer, we discover 
that the island is composed of whitish stone, being 
seventeen miles long and nine wide. Its soil is pro- 
ductive and well cultivated, yielding grapes, oranges, 
wheat, olives, and cotton. Its climate is hot, but 
healthy. Brilliant skies smile upon it. Twenty-two 
villages dot its surface. Malta is a crown-colony, gov- 
erned by its own laws. As the steamer enters the 
harbor, rocks rise high on either side ; upon these on 
the one hand stand strong walls, and on the other 
houses after the Italian style. Entering the city, we 
find the old part rises in terrace after terrace. The 
highways consist largely of flights of stone steps, lined 



3l6 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

with stores and dwellings. Neatness appears to be 
stamped on everything. No filth or garbage lies by 
the wayside. The display of goods in the shop-win- 
dows indicates taste and good judgment. The stores 
are not spacious, but inviting and pleasant. The dress 
of the men is after the European custom, but that of 
the women is peculiar. A friend who had been on 
the street but a short time remarked, " Do you see how 
thick the nuns are? " The women are dressed in black 
throughout, wearing Quaker-like bonnets. It is some- 
what singular that black should have been adopted in 
this hot climate. Scanning the faces, the olive of the 
Greek, the brunette of the Roman, the blond of the 
French, the russet of the Arab, and the unnatural white 
of the Albino are made very manifest. The people are 
active, and move as though they had a purpose. 

When the Knights of St. John were driven from the 
island of Rhodes, they w^ere permitted to come with 
their treasures to this island, and under them it became 
most flourishing. In 1798 it was captured by the 
French, and in 1800 it was taken by the English, and 
is still in their custody. It is strongly fortified, and 
regarded as an important possession in the midst of 
the Mediterranean. 

In the Church of St. John, which is one of the oldest 
and most curious structures in the city, is a fine display 
on the walls, ceiling, and marble flooring of the work 
of the old Knights. The statues are exquisitely cut, 
the paintings cannot easily be surpassed, the tapestry 
pictures are true to life, and the profuse carvings on 
the floors can but be admired. This is the church of 



ITALY AND MALTA. 317 

Knight-heraldry. In the museum of the city is an 
extensive collection of Knight-memorials in the way 
of mail-costumes, swords, guns, cannon, and splendid 
tapestries, more than three hundred years old. The 
Knights of Malta are bound to live. 

This city is famous for its clubs, newspapers, univer- 
sity, soldiers, and theatres. Though the island has 
been held by the PhcEnicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, 
Romans, Goths, Vandals, Saracens, Sicilians, yet it pro- 
mises henceforth to remain in the possession of the 
English. From October to April its climate is delight- 
ful. With the English it is a favorite island. 

Leaving Malta, as the heavens are all afire with flam- 
ing stars and the smooth sea reflects a secondary firma- 
ment unusually brilliant, we rejoice that Neptune is so 
propitious. The night passes on, and Somnus brings 
sleep to all on board save to the officers walking the 
bridge, the watchmen on the bow, the firemen feed- 
ing the furnaces, the steersmen at the wheel, and the 
engineers guarding the motive power. As Aurora 
ushers in the new day, we are sailing along the coast of 
Africa, a short distance from the site of old Carthage, 
which recalls the scenes of that Tyrian colony coming 
across the Mediterranean, long before Paul sailed its 
waters, laying the foundations of a grand city which 
became almost the mistress of Rome and the world in 
the days of Hannibal. The African coast is very ir- 
regular, being broken into vales, hills, and mountains. 
Some of the highest peaks in this late spring-time are 
scarfed with snow. The valleys are green and lovely; 
the highlands are covered with olive and mulberry 



jl8 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

orchards. Villages dot the glens and slopes of the 
mountains. It is not singular that the old Greeks, so 
fond of the beautiful, should have sought settlements 
among such overweening loveliness. 

On the morning of the fourth day from Malta the 
steamer rounds the Rock — fourteen hundred feet high, 
being on the east and south sides nearly perpendicular, 
and on the west sloping to the sea — on which stands the 
city of Gibraltar. English batteries are thickly planted 
on the top and within the Rock, making the strongest 
fortification in the world, and having perfect command 
of the straits. 

This has been a signally contested place. The Span- 
ards, the French, and the Moors have laid claim to it 
at different periods. Now the English hold it as theirs 
henceforth. 

Gibraltar has a population of thirty thousand, who 
do not speak quite as many different languages. The 
bay on which the city stands is safe for moorage in 
storm and delightful in calm. The Spanish and African 
coasts in sight are truly picturesque. On the African 
side, some five miles off to the nearest point, are strong- 
bulwarks and frowning cannon ; and where Spain dips 
to the sea west of Gibraltar, she has heavy breastworks 
and many soldiers on duty. It is sad that in this age 
and in civilized countries men should spend such im- 
mense sums of money in preparing to slay one another. 
How long will it be before Christendom will learn that 
they are the true heroes who destroy not with steel and 
lead, but " overcome evil with good " ? 



CHAPTER XII. 

SPAIN. 

ADVANCING into Spain, we are soon made con- 
scious that Nature has been munificent to this 
country, supplying her abundantly with granite, mar- 
ble, and wood for building; the richest soil for grow- 
ing wheat, grapes, and olives ; the purest water, the 
most effulgent skies, and the healthiest climate. Man 
ought to live and prosper, blessed with such benefi- 
cence ; but for some reason blight has come upon him 
in this land of so much natural wealth. Why should 
this be? In the sixteenth century Spain took the lead 
of civilization. Her commerce was upon every sea, and 
her intellectual influence was felt to the uttermost parts 
of the earth. Then she was wearing the crown that had 
fallen from Greece, Egypt, and Rome. Yet she was not 
to wear it long, because of unfaithfulness to principle. 
Her king Philip II. was the bitterest opponent of the 
Reformation, at the same time that in Germany it was 
shielded by the arm of empire, in Switzerland it found 
security in the ramparts of the little Republic of Geneva, 
in Scotland it was protected by the feudal barons, and 
in England it was shielded by Henry VIII. The powers 
of Spain were bent upon crushing it to death. Philip 
resolved that Romanism should be nourished by the 
blood and ashes of Protestantism. Accordingly the 



320 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

sword and musket were put into the hands of all who 
would fight against the enemies of the Pope and the 
Virgin. Strife and revenge were now raging throughout 
the land. 

Is it strange that her illustrious scholars should dis- 
appear, that her genius should cease to create, and her 
muse to sing? Why marvel that her schools should 
become largely supplanted by bull-rings, her pen by the 
stiletto, and that the monk, matador, and brigand should 
become her greatest heroes? Three centuries ago Spain 
was the best cultivated country in the world, but now 
more than half her area is running to waste. Thousands 
of acres of arable lands are no longer turned by the spade 
or plough. Her plains no longer wave with corn, or 
her hillsides flow with honey, or her pastures with milk. 
For the most part her people are poorly clad, scantily fed, 
and badly housed. Her beggars are multitudinous, and 
her idlers beyond computation. Still, the Spaniards are 
not naturally indolent or stupid, but have keen percep- 
tion, cordial sensibility, and productive imagination. 
This is made plain as the cities and noble v/orks of 
the past are examined. The cathedrals of Barcelona, 
Saragossa, Seville, Granada, and Burgos betoken lofty 
conception and grand execution. The public buildings 
of Madrid, Cordova, and Valladolid are the outcome 
of genius and wealth. The Alhambra at Granada is 
an airy and unique structure, but purely Moorish in its 
origin. 

Passing through the country on the railroads, we 
are surprised at the number of curves, cuts, and tunnels. 
But Spanish engineering and wealth did not construct 



SPAIN. 321 

them ; they were built by foreign skill and capital. 
We fall in with any number of priests and soldiers, who 
are dressed in the richest vestments. The most popular 
institution of Spain is the bull-ring. This draws the 
masses, and is most discussed. Do you wonder that 
brigands should abound, requiring armed officials at the 
depots and cautious protection in travelling through 
the country? The notorious Cid, who played such a 
conspicuous part in Spanish history, has to-day many 
a cruel t>Tant following in his trail. 

As we visit New Castile, we look in vain for the corn- 
fields. It must be that poets and historians have made 
a mistake in picturing it so fair and fertile. The common 
peasantry are diminutive in size, falling far short of 
the Castilians of former days, who are represented as 
very tall and handsome. 

The art-galleries of Spain are about her only redeem- 
ing possession. The one at Madrid containing so 
many of Murillo's pictures will compare favorably with 
the Pitti at Florence or the Louvre in Paris. In nearly 
the centre of New Castile is the Escurial, the largest 
granite edifice in the world, erected by Philip II. at a 
cost of seventy-five million dollars. Here the builder 
as king lived where he could hear the howl of the tem- 
pest and the thunder of the avalanche. Here dwelt the 
man of peering eye, narrow forehead, and protruding 
jaw, who swayed the mightiest sceptre in the time of 
the Reformation. In this palace were written, and out 
of these gates were despatched, those terrible decrees 
which caused the soil of Holland and the Netherlands, 
of Italy and Germany, to become dyed with the blood 



322 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

of martyrs. Here is the chair in which he sat when he 
plotted the assassination of the Prince of Orange, and 
the desk on which he wrote the mandate that launched 
the Armada. No wonder that blast and mildew should 
follow such ruling and wickedness ! 

But in Old Castile the valleys are still green, and oc- 
casionally clusters of dandelions send up their golden 
greeting of spring, while the mountain-tops let fall their 
reflection of winter's whitest robes. The most famous 
town of this region is Valladolid, the old capital of 
Spain. If it once was a city of flowers and beauty, it is 
far otherwise now. Walking its streets at midday, one 
is readily convinced that it is well supplied with sun- 
heat. Its old buildings and palace speak of better 
days. Its streets are stirring with priests and soldiers, 
who appear as if they fared sumptuously every day. 
In the stores and business places there is little life. 
Hosts of loungers are on every hand, clad in the great- 
est variety of rags and finery; they evidently believe in 
patchwork, and delight in it too. Their feet are mostly 
shod with sandals of untanned leather, and their heads 
are crowned with anything and everything which will 
rest upon them. The ladies and gentlemen in the after- 
noon are sure to promenade the streets in their trailing 
dresses and circular cloaks. 

Valladolid has long been noted for its schools. It 
is to Spain what Padua is to Italy, or Heidelberg 
to Germany, or Edinburgh to Scotland. Its people 
claim to speak the purest Spanish of the country. 
Its leading school is that of the law, and it has in 
attendance some two thousand students. At the lee- 



SPAIN. 323 

tures they do not appear as if they were being injured 
by hard study. 

In their Normal Schools we saw boys and girls all the 
way from six to sixteen years of age. It is amusing to 
obser\'e their methods of operation. Four and more 
classes may be reciting at the same time in one room. 
The leading qualification of the master is physical 
strength. The pupils have great fear of the fist and the 
birch. Their text-books would be judged suitable only 
for a land whose ploughing is largely done by the can- 
non, and the reaping by the sword. 

But this town is not to be sought so much for cathe- 
dral, church, or school, as to visit spots made sacred by 
heroes of the past. Let us visit the Plaza ■Maya, and 
we find it surrounded by shops and devoted to traffic ; 
but lift the veil of the past, and in imagination look 
upon this plaza Oct. 7, 1544. A mass of faces fills the 
whole space. It is early morning, and the multitudes 
have hastened hither to witness the death of the first 
Protestant mart>'r in Spain. San Romano is led forth 
from his long and cruel imprisonment amidst cries of 
" Put him to death ! " He is conspicuously placed in 
the presence of the curious and barbarous crowd. 
Priest and monk are doing their best to make the 
condemned recant. From eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing till tvvo in the afternoon the expectant throngs wait 
and wait, that they may see the wood piled high about 
Romano, the fire kindled, and the flames envelop a 
human being. As the dying man involuntarily nods 
his head, the monks, feeling that he is repentant, snatch 
him from the flames ; but on recovering his breath he 



324 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

asks, "Did you envy me my happiness?" and he is 
thrust back into the flames, and all that is mortal of 
the noble hero was soon reduced to ashes. Then his 
persecutors felt that they had gained a great victory. 
But how was it with Charles V. and his assistants, who 
did this wicked deed ? The blow which they intended 
should fall upon another came back upon themselves, 
as has always been the case with persecutors and selfish 
demagogues. 

Another place that we find of special interest is the 
house in which Cervantes lived while he was writing and 
publishing his extraordinary " Don Quixote." The 
house is now owned by a literary society, and in it are 
preserved the works of the gifted author. These memo- 
rials are significant because they speak of a real genius 
and a worthy life. It appears as if every gifted soul 
comes into the world at just the time he is most 
needed. In the sixteenth century Spain was largely 
given to the wildest marvels of romance, even outvy- 
ing the strangest legends and wildest myths of ancient 
Greece. A fondness for knight-errantry given to gi- 
gantic exaggerations and overwrought pictures, was 
destroying in the country all relish for reliable and 
truthful literature. This, together with the reign of 
Philip II., who was devoted to the basest debauchery 
and the most dogmatic worship, was ruming Spain. 
How was it possible to change this order of things and 
save the country? Cervantes felt that it could be done 
only by getting at the masses so as to change the cur- 
rent of their minds, and create a relish for the real and 
true in life. His astuteness and knowledfje of human 



SPAIN. 325 

nature pointed out the way. It was to be done by 
exposing present errors and faults, illustrating how they 
are to be overcome. Cervantes was past fifty years of 
age, having had large experience at home and abroad ; 
he had been a prisoner for five years in Algiers ; in 
Andalusia he had gathered up much sprightly wit and 
delicate irony; in Seville he had scrutinized the small 
sharpers and common pickpockets; in La Mancha he 
fell in with the most striking contrasts of pride and 
poverty, substance and show. 

At this period the national portraiture of Spain was, 
as now, strangely diversified. Blood from the polished 
Greek, the brave Roman, the rude Moor, the daring 
Goth, and the- tenacious Jew was flowing in the veins of 
her subjects. Cervantes had made himself familiar with 
these different characters by living with them. In his 
heroes he shows up the extravagances everywhere preva- 
lent as to the romance of chivalry and knight-errantry. 
How could he have introduced a more fortunate char- 
acter than Don Quixote, the hyperbole of the ideal ! 
Through him Cervantes had the opportunity of exhibit- 
ing the rich stores of his own imagination and visions of 
a better future. Through the insanity of this hero he 
shows how easy it is to mistake the ideal for the real and 
the reverse. Then his Sancho comes in so naturally, to 
express the material side of human existence. Through 
him he exposes the foxy, selfish, and envious actions of 
the extremely passionate. Cervantes lived to see his 
classic fiction greatly admired by the most cultured in 
his own country, and since his death it has been trans- 
lated into all the languages of Europe. His fascinating 



326 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

irony has served to correct countless errors and improve 
the condition of millions of human beings. 

Cervantes came into this world from an obscure 
source ; he lived and toiled under difficulties, receiving 
but the smallest pecuniary rewards ; nevertheless, his life 
was a grand success, continuous and cumulative. The 
place where he dwelt, the things he handled, the works 
he wrought, grow more sacred as the years roll on, 
proving that it is mind which lives and makes live. 

Still another object of peculiar and touching interest 
to an American is the house in which Columbus died. 
As we inspect the room in which the illustrious man 
breathed his last, the very floor, walls, and ceiling seem 
to speak of the elements which entered into the com- 
position of that grand character; and how he was 
prompted by the loftiest aspirations, leading him to ven- 
ture and explore. So on the 3d of August, 1492, he 
set sail from Palos with a motley crew, the best he could 
obtain, to discover new lands in the far west. He had 
a troublesome voyage ; but in spite of mutinous sailors, 
leaky ships, and rough seas, victory came with fullest 
joy on that October morning, as his eye surely caught 
sight of land and the new world was revealed. As he 
returned home, no wonder that bells should ring and 
greatest honors should be paid him who had accom- 
plished such signal results. But at length, through 
envy and extreme selfishness, fortune changed ; the 
great discoverer had not entered the right gate for 
lasting prosperity. So he was deprived of his rights, 
and during the last years of his life he suffered for 
the want of comforts ; even the Spaniards came to 



SPAIN. 327 

hold him in disrepute, and thus his name in this coun- 
try is not held sacred. The house which he last oc- 
cupied, built of brick and roofed with tiling, is used 
for stabling cows and sheltering beggars. If the house 
were in our countr}*, it would be counted sacred, like 
the old home at Mount Vernon. Even if the brick 
composing the walls were in America, they would be 
regarded as invaluable, and would be piled into a me- 
morial, to express reverence for one of the world's 
greatest heroes. 

It would seem that Spain is about as low as she can 
be. Sixty per cent of her adult population cannot read.' 
What a blessing it would be to the nations if she could 
be redeemed, shedding the light that she did three cen- 
turies ago ! But this cannot be, as long as she remains 
so burdened with priests and soldiers. Nature has done 
her part to render the country attractive and flourishing. 
Her past shows that she was designed to be a land of 
schools, poets, and explorers. We can but hope some 
good fortune may reverse her tendency, making her 
once more a bright light among the most enlightened 
countries. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LONDON. 



THE great Herschel judged London to be really the 
centre of the globe, and this may account for the 
fact that it is the largest city of the world. As all 
the roads led to Rome when she was mistress of all 
realms, so all the great highways of commerce centre in 
London. At the last census it was spreading over an 
area having a radius of fifteen miles, with a population 
of four and a half millions, enough to form a line, should 
they be placed side by side, reaching from Boston to 
Chicago, It has an annual increase of forty-five thou- 
sand. At this rate, a century hence, it will have a popu- 
lation of nearly a billion. It contains more Roman 
Catholics than the capital of Italy, more Jews than 
Palestine, half as many Scotchmen as Edinburgh, and 
two thirds as many Irishmen as Dublin. It is estimated 
that eight hundred thousand persons and seventy thou- 
sand vehicles enter Old London and go out of it daily. 
It has seven hundred thousand houses, which, should 
they be placed end to end, would extend across the At- 
lantic Ocean in the widest part. Its streets arranged 
in one continuous line would make a road three thou- 
sand miles long. The inhabitants consume yearly four 
million barrels of flour; twenty-five hundred miles of 
oxen, should they be joined together; sheep, calves, 




iMAXSION HOUSE AND QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. LONDON. 



LONDON. 329 

and hogs sufficient to border the whole seacoast of 
Great Britain ; poultry and game enough to cover the 
surface of Rhode Island ; and fish equal to half the 
weight of Bunker Hill Monument. As we ride through 
its principal thoroughfares at midday, we can but marvel 
at the amount of vitalized human matter thronging the 
streets, and ask ourselves, How are all its wants sup- 
plied? The high and low, the cultivated and illiterate, 
mingle together. Really there are more mendicants, 
according to the population, than are to be seen in 
Cairo or Madrid ; and yet crumbs must fall from the 
board of the rich to keep them alive, for they have no 
means of earning even the salt they eat. 

The mansions here are many and grand, but the 
hovels are more in number. The magnificent mansions 
fronting Oxford Street or Hyde Park are likely to have 
miserable huts in their rear. London is a city of 
striking odds and incessant surprises. Victoria may 
pass you with her splendid retinue, and the next mo- 
ment you may be crowded upon by throngs of vagrants, 
ragged and begging for bread ; or bands of would-be 
rioters, if they dared, will come rushing along with 
fiercest eyes and distorted faces, raging against the 
opulent. Vice and crime abound in this city in the 
ratio of its vastness and wealth. But this does not 
seem so strange, when the fact comes to mind that 
there is more drunkenness here, according to the num- 
ber of people, than in any other city on the globe. 
Why, the Londoners consume annually a million and a 
half barrels of malt liquor, two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand barrels of wines, and a hundred and fifty thousand 



330 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

barrels of spirits ! The police courts have business in 
abundance six days out of seven, and as many females 
as males are arraigned. The houses of correction, 
lobby-jails, and prisons are on a large scale, but crowded 
full. On Sunday the saloons are obliged to be closed 
during the regular religious services, but are wide open 
as the church doors are closed ; and oh how the peo- 
ple rush for the saloons ! Theology and alcohol are 
speedily mixed together. 

But London, in spite of its vastness and corruption, 
is an orderly city. Its thousand churches do not labor 
in vain. The temperament here is religious, and the 
pulse beats in favor of Christianity. The influence of 
Arundel, Becket, Latimer, Cranmer, and Butler is far- 
reaching and disseminating. The Wesleys, Foxes, 
Whitefields, Kingsleys, Robertsons, and Stanleys have 
wrought deeply into hearts. Then the living clergy 
are not inferior to the departed. Parker, Liddon, Spur- 
geon, Farrar, Brooke, and others are doing their best 
for the spread of the Gospel. The periodicals, schools, 
museums, art-galleries, and benevolent associations of 
the city are dispensing saving blessings. 

In name England is a monarchy, but in reality she 
is a republic. Victoria is queen by title, but in ideas 
the people rule. By no means would we imply that the 
Queen is a nonentity or a mere abstraction; it is far 
otherwise. The fact that she has been upon the throne 
fifty years and that the country has prospered during 
her reign, is sufficient proof of her ability ; for more 
ability is required to retain the throne than to obtain it. 
She appears as if she enjoyed her situation. She 



LONDON. 331 

spends the winter at Osborne Palace, the spring and 
autumn at Windsor Castle, and the summer at Balmo- 
ral Chateau. Her main state duties are to sign docu- 
ments or veto the appointment of bishops, and receive 
a daily letter from the Premier while Parliament is in 
session. She holds in highest esteem the Duke of 
Richmond, and regards Mr. Gladstone as a great states- 
man. Her annual income from the Government is two 
miUion dollars, besides nearly the same amount which 
is paid to her children. She is generous, and can well 
afford to be. The poor people especially love their 
queen. When she passes from earth, her name is quite 
certain to be written highest on the scroll of honor 
among the sovereigns of England. 

But the most admired and the most despised char- 
acter of England to-day is William E. Gladstone, an 
accomplished scholar, a great diplomatist, a wise states- 
man, a distinguished orator, a fine rhetorician, and a 
gifted financier. He is of unblemished character, and 
of decided moral strength and religious faith. He 
seems to be the man raised up for British emergencies. 
He understands English politics and English society. 
Although he has seen fourscore years, he is well 
preserved and is declared to accomplish more work 
in a given time than any other public man of the 
country. He believes that every one born into this 
world, whether an Indian, Mussulman, Egyptian, Az- 
tec, or Irishman, is capable of being educated so as 
to become a free citizen. For this reason he has en- 
listed himself in removing from Ireland the wrongs 
imposed upon her by England; and like every great 



332 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

agitator and reformer, he is being supremely loved by 
his followers and supremely censured by his opposers. 
Still, at heart all believe in the man, and know that 
the cause which he has espoused, if not successful at 
once, will be so at no distant period. As he came 
into London the other day to attend Parliament, mul- 
titudes met him at the station and escorted him to 
his hotel. As in old Roman times, many desired to 
carry him on their shoulders and parade him through 
the streets, but the great good man declined any such 
publicity. No other could receive greater homage 
than is paid Mr. Gladstone by the middle and lower 
classes, by the leading clergy and philanthropists. It 
is true that aristocratic Oxford, many of the Estab- 
lished Churchmen, and army officials treat him with 
coolness and sometimes with contempt, because, as 
they feel, he has stepped down among the common 
people. Their ideal man is a stanch aristocrat. They 
would have the gap between the Crown and the laborer 
as wide as possible. The noble statesman sees distinctly 
the fallacy of such an idea, and is fully aware that Eng- 
l^and could not long survive under any such regime. 
He is fully persuaded that the class-system has been 
pushed too far, — so far that the country is experiencing 
a reaction and a grinding -depression in business. ^If 
England has immense concentrated wealth, she has 
enormous, wide-spreading poverty. While the rich 
have become richer, the poor have become poorer. 
Mr. Gladstone fervently loves his native land, — the 
land of Shakspeare and Milton, of Peel and Welling- 
ton, of Wilberforce and Howard, — and so he is doing 



LONDON. 333 

his utmost to turn the current of present tendencies into 
higher channels. Therefore he pleads for the Home 
Rule of Ireland, for universal education, and the eleva- 
tion of the whole people. His ability, culture, large 
experience, and present standing fit him to be the fore- 
most man of England at the present time. As we have 
heard him in Parliament, he has shown himself a greater 
thinker, logician, and orator than we anticipated. Let 
his principles prevail, and this most powerful country 
and largest city of the world will be borne safely be- 
tween Scylla and Charybdis, and the feudal system of 
land-ownership will be done away, and the people will 
become the landlords of the British soil. Then it 
will be safe for London to grow, and English subjects 
to multiply, for every man will have the opportunity of 
becoming more of a man. The lower classes will no 
longer be kept in the ditch and the hovel from neces- 
sity, but hope will cheer them onward, and the nation 
will prosper and will send out a benign influence in 
behalf of the highest culture and the best civilization. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM LONDON THROUGH IRELAND. 

'' I ^HE longer one tarries in London the more he feels 
his ignorance of the tremendous metropolis. It 
is an incomprehensible compound of all kinds of people 
and all sorts of things. If history reveals what it has 
been, no prophet can tell what it will be. Already it is 
the largest city there ever has been. Having spent at 
intervals six months in it at sight-seeing, we feel ready 
to admit that it wears an aspect of having been built 
for the ages. 

Coming out of the din and the roar of the great city 
into the quiet of the country, how strange everything 
seems ! The fog has disappeared ; a sheen of sunlight 
is thrown over the face of Nature ; the air is so clear 
that the eye is unconscious of space. In the open 
country it is mostly Nature ; in the city it was mostly 
man. How true it is that God works in stillness, but 
man bustles ! The gearing of the universe runs noise- 
lessly, but artificial machinery creaks. 

As the train speeds across the plains and through 
the valleys, the landscape views are entrancing. The 
meadows are green, and hedged with hawthorn ; the 
wheat is promising; the cattle and sheep are feeding 
the pastures. Farmhouses dot the lands; stately oaks 
and elms are scattered here and there. The train 



FROM LONDON THROUGH IRELAND. 335 

whizzes by thriving hamlets, and occasionally halts at 
the larger towns. In Chester we recall pleasant expe- 
riences in tracing its walls and inspecting the grounds 
where the old Roman pitched his tent and kindled his 
camp-fires. Not far on we sight the rural home of the 
venerable Gladstone, crowning the hills and environed 
with stately trees. The course now is along the river 
Dee, and soon by the arm of the sea. On the left are 
the ribby, broken, and wooded lands of Wales. On 
several of the prominences are the ruins of massive 
castles telling of feudal lords and battle-scenes. After 
a speedy trip the train stops at Holyhead, and quickly 
the passengers and baggage are transferred to the 
" Rose," the swiftest steamer crossing the channel to 
the Emerald Isle. A jollier crew seldom rides on these 
waters than the one on board. Puns and jokes drop 
fast from Irish lips as the wheel rolls round and drives 
the ship to sea. Soon the mist gathers thick, and the 
waves splash against the vessel. Some of the passen- 
gers have planted themselves on the deck with the re- 
solve to stay, let what will betide. However, it is not 
long before one after another of a sudden starts on 
a rush below, anxious to become prostrate at once. 
Before long the sea asserts its right to wash the deck, 
and so those who are brave and true to resolutions 
formed are of a sudden all immersionists, for surely 
they have been under the water. Now follows a tirade 
of ejaculations and an emphatic demonstration of pedi- 
mental and stomachical propositions. Still, there is one 
son of Erin, a wit and a wag, who laughs at the idea 
of giving up to Neptune ; but the sea is choppy and 



23Q ROUND THE GLOBE. 

wrenching, and so the red-headed bravado becomes 
perfectly silent, looking straight up into the fog as if 
he had decided longings for sunshine, and all at once 
he turns his face to the sea, bowing and straining as if 
he were afraid he should not give full homage to the 
god of the deep. His offering is long and voluminous; 
and when it is finished, he stretches himself upon the 
deck, looking as if he were quite ready to depart hence. 

As the steamer nears the coast, lighthouses give forth 
their signals, and as the mouth of the Arma Liffey River 
is entered, gas-jets flare their lights, giving brilliant 
greeting to all entering the great port of Ireland. In 
half an hour the vessel is by the wharf " of sweet Dublin 
with the sky above it." In a few moments we are riding 
in a jaunty over stone pavements among substantial 
buildings, under the flaming stars. 

A quarter of a century ago we traversed these streets, 
visited the places of special interest, and patiently lis- 
tened to the quaint and spontaneous sayings of hack- 
men and venders at the corners of the streets. But how 
changed now ! The facial expressions and tones of 
voice imply that their hearts are burdened. How could 
it be otherwise ; for within the last few years it is esti- 
mated that more than half of the population of the 
country has emigrated to foreign lands? As we revisit 
familiar places, we find them greatly changed. There 
is nothing of the stir and enterprise of twenty-five years 
ago. It is true that Trinity College is still here, but 
it is losing its patronage. The Normal School is in 
operation, doing excellent work, but its numbers have 
greatly fallen off. The Botanical Garden remains beau- 



FROM LONDON THROUGH IRELAND. 337 

tiful. Sackville Avenue, one of the finest in Europe, is 
still adorned with the column of Wellington and the 
unique statue of the poet Gray. Glasnevin Cemetery, 
where lie buried the ashes of O'Connell, Steele, and 
Burke, is the same " Silent City," being far more thickly 
populated. The grand Phoenix Park is diversified as of 
yore with walks, groves, gardens, and sporting fields. 
Dublin is an interesting city, "having among its three 
hundred thousand inhabitants not a few most intelligent 
and cultivated people. • 

Passing southward, we are struck with surprise at the 
sparsity of population. For miles we ride and do not 
see a settlement, where formerly we saw hundreds and 
thousands of homes, where families were living and cul- 
tivating the little farms. Hosts of hands were then busy 
cutting the grass or digging potatoes. The cows were 
sleek and the cossets fat, the fowls plentiful, and the 
swine had enough to eat. The highlands and lowlands 
then were swarming with active life. Now in places the 
land seems to be turned into pastures, growing up to un- 
derbrush. Many of the landlords who were rich are im- 
poverished. A few of the larger towns may be holding 
their own, but the country at large is becoming desolate. 

The history of Ireland implies that it was to be a 
"land of destiny ;^^ and such thus far it certainly has 
been. It has been a land of evolution and revolution. 
Its ups and downs have followed in quick succession, 
and the question presses itself, Is it always to be thus? 
Present indications are to the contrary. The British 
Government has not been altogether opposed to Ire- 
land, as is often represented, especially since Mr. Glad- 



338 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

Stone was first made Premier. In 1833 church sales 
were abolished; in 1857, turnpike tolls; the vestry tax, 
in 1864. Since then the Land Law preventing evictions 
by landlords without compensation to tenants, and the 
disestablishment of the Episcopal Church have taken 
place, and now the Home Rule Bill is before the people. 
The best minds of England, Scotland, and Ireland, led 
by Mr. Gladstone, know that they are asking in this 
grant no more than what is right. Should this not 
be allowed, it would bring lasting contempt upon the 
English Government. 

It is true the Irish people are peculiar, and too much 
given to disturbances among themselves. The present 
stock sprang from two sources, — the Celts who crossed 
from Spain, and the Saxons who came through England 
from Denmark. The former were full of phosphorus 
and flashing wit, fond of sport and unwilling to work; 
while the later were serious and stable, liking labor and 
coveting honors. These bloods have so commingled 
as to produce a people mentally active and religiously 
devout, given to humor, poetry, and eloquence. Its 
O'Connells, Moores, Currans, Swifts, and Whatelys 
prove this true. 

The island is as the richest emerald set on the bosom 
of the sea under the fairest light. No wonder it was 
early sought by birds, deer, and human beings. It is 
full of enchantment. As we inspect its lakes, mountains, 
and Giant's Causeway, we are moved to say. Beautiful, 
sublime, and grand ! The lakes of Killarney are larger 
than the English lakes, not so wild as the Scotch, 
more placid than the Swiss, and more romantic than 



FROM LONDON THROUGH IRELAND. 339 

the Italian. County Kerry is the Switzerland of Ire- 
land. Its lakes, woods, fields, and highlands so blend 
as to delight the most fastidious eye. The ruins of 
Muckross Abbey, close upon the lake-shore, add greatly 
to the fascinations of Killarney. It was built four cen- 
turies ago by Franciscan monks as a fit burial-place for 
Irish kings. The ivy and myrtle are hanging their 
mantles of green over wall and tomb. The lakes are 
three in number, twelve miles in length, combined. 
These are dotted with islands of a green surface and 
bald rocks. The sides of the mountains are wooded, 
but the summits are bare. All this region is owned by 
two landlords, who control it as they please. While we 
enjoy this scenery more than words can depict, we are 
made sad at the prevailing poverty, wherever we fall in 
with the people of the country. In the village of Kil- 
larney the men, women, and children are clad in rags, 
and are actually suffering for the necessaries of life. 
The rentals of the land are so high that they cannot 
raise from it enough to pay the taxes and support 
themselves. While the lake scenery of Killarney will 
be remembered as exquisitely beautiful, still it will be 
overcast with a pall, expressive of suffering humanity. 

In Cork we find a busy, stirring city, situated on the 
river Lee, with picturesque surroundings. It wears the 
appearance of a new town; still, it has dates running 
back to the ninth century. The people boast of its 
extreme age, and from their fluency of speech in ex- 
tolling it, you would judge they had all kissed the 
Blarney stone, which is only five miles away. This 
stone is near an old castle, and is famous for imparting 



340 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

glibness of tongue to all who kiss it. So it must be that 
most of the Irish have performed the feat. The ques- 
tion is asked, " What does it do to one who puts his 
lips to it? " " And shurely it taiches him policy," says 
Pat. " What do you mean by policy? " asks the gentle- 
man. " Why, saying one thing and maning another." 

A few miles' ride down the river lands us in Queens- 
town, built upon a steep side-hill, overlooking the bay. 
From the water it presents a fairy-like appearance. Its 
cathedral, churches, and houses are airy and commo- 
dious. It is a seaside retreat in summer and winter. 
Were it not for its swarms of beggars, it would be an 
enticing resort. Were it not for money sent from 
America, nearly all of the aged here would be beggars 
in the street. Though they love dear old Ireland and 
wish to die in it, still they hold our country as the land 
of the blest. But in spite of the poverty, wit flashes 
now and then as fresh as of yore. So a gouty English- 
man must have felt, as he was passing a stand where a 
poor woman was selling some fruit. She darted in front 
of him, begging him to buy. He pushed her aside, say- 
ing, " Out of the way ! " She dodged in front of him 
once more, importuning him to buy; but he lifted his 
cane as in the act to strike, reiterating, " Out of the 
way!" Upon this the woman cried aloud as in grief, 
" La me ! would that your conscience was as tender as 
your toes, and you would be after buying some fruit of 
the poor woman ! " 

But the steamer is in the roadstead waiting for pas- 
sengers bound for America; so we bid adieu to the 
" Land of Destiny," with all its charms and misfortunes. 




THE LAKES OF KILLARXEY. 



CHAPTER XV. 

NEARING HOME. 

EASTERN lands are left behind, and we are really 
once more on a grand steamer westward bound 
across the Atlantic. No dread disturbs, but joy thrills 
the heart. Our baggage arranged in the cabin, it is 
pleasant to feel that it is likely to remain free from 
the dust and clatter experienced on the railway. To 
one who is a good sailor the rocking and rolling of the 
deep stimulate the mind in wakefulness and lull it in 
drowsiness. Each day brings change and variety, and 
each night sleep and rest. Nevertheless, it is a common 
remark of voyagers on the deep, " How dreary and 
monotonous are the days at sea ! " To such there are 
no beauties of sky, no wondrous revealings of ever- 
moving waters. What, no beauty of sky ! Why, in no 
other part of creation has the Great Architect displayed 
such a diversity of splendors as in the overarching 
azure. It is subject to incessant change. At times it 
is aglow from horizon to zenith with hazy warmth or 
crystal fire or massy gold ; or again it is freckled with 
fleecy clouds, and stratified with layers of amethyst, 
onyx, opal, and jasper. Whence comes its color of 
blue, which is so apparent as you gaze upward, or why 
so transparent as you look across land and sea? You 
move through the air in calm as though it were not sub- 



342 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

stance ; but let the hurricane rage, and who can with- 
stand its might? Let the typhoon be awakened, and 
the sky is not color but conflagration. Not only during 
the day is constant beauty dropping from on high ; but 
as night spreads her awning above, and star after star 
falls in front of the darkness, what splendors are pic- 
tured ! The considerate mind knows these things do 
not merely happen, and so it cannot refrain from in- 
quiring, who hangs them there? Who sets them on 
fire and keeps them apparently the same as when 
Homer sang and David struck his harp? To the 
thoughtful those orbs become worlds, peopled with 
sentient beings and children of the living God. 

What, naught to be seen on the broad ocean ! Just 
peer into the depths, and life is expressed everywhere. 
There is the home of the finny tribes, and what varie- 
ties and how countless they are ! Corals build reefs 
which serve to make a Florida, or a Venetian lagoon. 
Porpoises leap from the sea to express their joy. The 
floor under the sea is radiant with exquisitely colored 
shells. Watch the trail of the steamer as it ploughs 
through the Persian Gulf in the clear hot night, and it 
flashes and glows with fire ! Standing on the bow as 
the sun is obliquely pouring his rays, and a beating 
wave throws up a shower of diamonds, hanging before 
you a whole coterie of rainbows, can you say that rid- 
ing on the " vasty deep " is all monotony? Observe 
the flying fish darting from wave to wave, and Mother 
Carey's chickens a thousand miles from shore, full of 
glee, and can you be so strange as to declare there is 
no pleasure or variety in the seafaring life? 



NEARING HOME. 343 

How can it be otherwise than that you will have 
retrospective seasons, when you must fee] so dependent, 
and realize yourself to be so far from home? If you 
have travelled to some extent, are not the galleries of 
memory hung with many a telling picture? Are you 
making a voyage round the globe, and is it nearly com- 
pleted? Then Memory, like a pensive Ruth, as she 
wanders through harvest fields, will glean many a shock 
of corn to sustain and gladden the heart. 

Is there not profoundest pleasure experienced in re- 
calling Niagara Falls, the western prairies, the Great 
Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, the Rio Grande Pass 
with its overawing canons, the Yosemite Valley, the 
gigantic trees of Mariposa, the experiences on the 
Pacific Ocean, the novelties and realities of Japan, 
the strange, funny things of China, the temples and 
tombs of India, the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh, the 
old cities and Pyramids of Egypt, the sacred places of 
Palestine, the ruins of the Athenian Acropolis, the dis- 
closures of Pompeii and Vesuvius, the tomb of Virgil, 
the home of Columbus, stupendous London, and de- 
pressed Ireland? 

It is true, if one is a " bad sailor," and the sea frets 
and rages, he can realize at best only bits of pleasure, 
caring little for the past and less for the future. The 
last steamer he is on, and the last voyage made, are 
likely to be the worst of all, and he declares it to be his 
last. There is no help for such a one but to keep off 
the sea. But it is far different with him who can ride 
on the fair or stormy ocean, going to the table at every 
meal with a relish, and being rocked into sweet sleep 



344 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

every night. He is sure to find travel delightful, if his 
heart and head are right. It is the fool that only wan- 
ders ; it is the seeker after wisdom that travels. 

Nearing home upon the sea, what thoughts are bound 
to flood the mind ! Of course there must be more or 
less fear mingling with the joy, for strange mishaps are 
certain to occur in long absences. However, the ex- 
pected joys ordinarily will exhilarate. Let the review 
of the past away from home be ever so gratifying, the 
approaching anticipated pleasure will crowd it aside. 
The expected meeting with the dear ones, and the re- 
counting of their love and devotion, of the united pray- 
ing and working, of the social times around the open 
fire and at the festive board, of the looking into each 
other's faces, — these and numberless other things move 
the mind and heart as no foreign experiences can. If 
we are going to the old home, what recollections rush to 
view ! Every room in the house has its story to tell of 
joy or sorrow. The lawn with rosebush and cherry-tree 
speak of sweetest perfumes and reddest fruit. The shed 
and barn have their tales of interest to relate. The 
deep well at the back-door, the fruitful orchard on the 
hillside and in the hollow, the maple grove in the pas- 
ture, the singing of the many birds, and the chattering 
of squirrels, all lend their enchantment. There the 
sloping hillsides across the Minewawa, dotted with cot- 
tages and cut up into mowings, fields, and woods ; the 
tall pine, and the crown of the Monadnock, — present, 
summer and winter, unsurpassed views. There the sun- 
rises and sunsets outvie those of the Orient or the Hes- 
perus. The village, too, nestled in the valley, — with 



NEARING HOME. 345 

the churches, valuable library, so many tidy-looking 
houses, busy factories and mills, has charms for its 
native-born, such as no other place can have. More- 
over, the "silent city" on the hill, so thickly set with 
memorials, speaks of the living beyond the " darkling 
stream." Really, the more one experiences abroad 
the more one's home and native country is rendered 
precious. 

Think of our nativity' as we may and should, we know 
its motes and mountains, its violets and sno%\y crystals, 
are precious in the sight of the All-Wise; yea, the 
very atoms in garden and field He is converting into 
emeralds, amethysts, and diamonds. Were this not so, 
there would be no green grass, no blue sky, nor white 
lilies. Why, then, should we allow ourselves to so live 
and so fail to appreciate as by and by to be unable to 
tell angels, when asking somewhat of the beauties and 
blessings of our earthly homes? Let natural history, 
botany, geology, chemistry', and astronomy do their 
perfect work for our people, and especially for the 
young, and they will cleave to their native land, and 
will rejoice to labor on farms, in mines and woods, 
yea, anywhere and everywhere that dut}' calls. Their 
native home will be the dearest spot on earth; and 
though they stay at the old home, they will investi- 
gate, explore mentally, and do noble service for God 
and man. Their great aim in life will be, not simply 
to raise roofs of houses, but souls of men. 

We have been eight days out from Oueenstown, and 
an American pilot has just boarded our steamer. This 
is good news. We have had a prosperous voyage, and 



346 ROUND THE GLOBE. 

are surely entering New York harbor. Quickly all 
passengers are on the decks. Soon we are passing 
Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty. We left America facing 
the west, and have come back to it still facing the 
west. The inevitable conclusion is that we have rounded 
the globe, and have travelled not less than fifty thou- 
sand miles. Stepping on terra firma in one of the 
most growing marts of the world, we can but rejoice 
in being able to say, This is our native land. As we 
left it, we felt it was one of the best ; and as we return 
to it, we can assert, with increased emphasis, that it is 
the best land of all, — first, because of its natural ad- 
vantages ; second, because of its free schools and free 
churches ; third, because the people own the houses 
in which they live, and the soil which they till ; fourth, 
because the daughters stand on a par with the sons ; 
fifth, because general intelligence and enterprise pre- 
vail ; sixth, because character, not the purse, constitutes 
the real man. 

Here Christianity and moral principle were so applied 
as to take our fathers safely through the Revolutionary 
War, and their sons through the great Rebellion, chang- 
ing the feeble colonies into a Republic of forty-two States 
and nine Territories with a population of sixty millions. 
The East is looking to the West for light and assistance. 
Ours is the Republic of the world. The most impor- 
tant question of all time is to be decided on American 
soil; namely, Is self-government a possibility? All 
freedom-loving citizens desire to have this question 
answered in the affirmative, and millions in foreign 
lands who have caught the spirit of freedom earnestly 



NEARING HOME. 347 

pray that it may so prove ; but aristocrats, friends of 
despotism, and those who claim to rule by divine 
right and ecclesiastical succession, abhor such an idea, 
and are laboring with their might to crush it into the 
dust. So we need to take careful heed as to the foun- 
dations on which our Government stands, and suffer no 
wrongs engendered at home or brought from abroad 
to tear out and demolish the bases of our State fabric. 
If the followers of Allah, or Brahm, or Buddha, or Baal 
come to this country, they should be permitted to enter 
it only on the condition that they will work for univer- 
sal education, for duality of marriage, against priestcraft 
and sectarianism, against the saloon, the great enemy to 
liberty, and the many vices which are striking death- 
blows to freedom and our Republic. It is the loving 
John, not the avaricious Judas, that preserves the Re- 
public. God and duty must be supreme here, not 
Caesar collecting unjust dues. The Pilgrim Fathers 
soon after landing on Plymouth Rock set up the school 
and the church as co-workers ; we must take heed that 
Christianity and education are not divorced in this age 
of Mammon, or else we shall fall a prey to demagogism 
and treachery. Keep the home inviolate, the Christian 
church, public school, and college active, and the evil 
so threatening will be overcome with good ; and Amer- 
ica will send across the Atlantic and the Pacific to all 
other lands the assurances of the worth of a republican 
government in producing cultured and Christian men 
and women. 



INDEX. 



Page 

Aztecs I 

An Irishman on the Cars 39 

Across the Pacific 63 

Ainos 81 

Asakusa Temple 121 

Aground in Pearl River 159 

Along the Ganges 209 

Agra and Taj Mahal 219 

Aden 265 

Alexandria 277 

Athens 307 

Acropolis of Athens 308 

Across the Atlantic 341 

Boston I 

Brigham Young 31 

Big Trees of Mariposa 48 

Birds of Japan 79 

Buddhism 92, 125 

Benares and Sights by the Ganges 211 

Botanical Garden of Jeypoor 231 

Bombay 232 

Bunder Abbas and Bushire 244, 246 

Bussorah 247 

Babylon and its Ruins 249 

Bagdad, the City of Caliphs . = 259 

Bahrein and Pearl Fisheries 263 

Baalbek and Ruins 295 



350 INDEX. 

Pagh 

Battle of Salamis 307 

Blarney Stone 339 

Concord 3 

Connecticut River 4 

Canton University 9 

Canada 12 

Chicago 14 

Colorado Lands and Mining 20-30 

City of Gunnison 27 

Coach-ride to the Yosemite 45 

China 156, 171 

Canton and its Curiosities 157 

Criminals in China 168 

Chinese living in Boats 168 

Chinese School and Competitive Examinations . . . 167, 174 

Chinese Language 173 

Ceylon and its Capital 188 

Calcutta and Sights 199 

Cremation Scene 204 

Cawnpore and Mutiny of 1857-1858 218 

Coast of Arabia 264 

Cairo and Scenes 270 

Cervantes and his Home 324 

Cork and its Loquacious People 339 

Davenport and Soldiers' Gathering 17 

Des Moines and University 18 

Denver, a Remarkable City 20 

Dai Butsu 91 

Diamond Harbor 198 

Delhi and Street Scene ' . . 222 

Down the Tigris on a Raft 258 

Damascus 293 

Dublin as it is and as it was 336 

Edison 12 

Experience in a Typhoon , Ji 



INDEX. 351 

Page 

Entering Harbor of Yokohama . . . . ■ 74 

Empire of China 172 

Elephanta Island 240 

Euphrates River and Old Cities 248 

Egypt 279 

Ephesus and its Ruins 297 

Fitchburg 3 

Fatal Bridge 6 

From Wawona to the Yosemite 51 

Fields and Pastures of Japan 78 

Funeral Procession 165 

Farming in China 180 

From Joppa to Jerusalem 282 

Foundation of our Government 347 

Green Mountains 5 

Golden Gate 64 

Gulf of Suez 267 

Greece and Athens 305 

Gladstone 331 

Harbor of Kobe . 152 

Hindrance to Christianity in Japan 154 

Hong Kong . .■ 156 

Hotel Accommodations in Canton 160 

Hoogly River • .... 197 

History of India 222 

Hillah 251 

Home Rule in Ireland 333 

How to appreciate our Land 345 

Iowa 18 

lyiyasu and his Tomb 100, 129 

Italy 312 

Ireland and People 337, 33S 

Japan and the Japanese 76, 109, iii 

Jinrikishas 84 



352 INDEX. 

Page 

Jumna River and Country 221 

Jumna Musjid Mosque 224 

Jeypoor and Street Scenes 227 

Jeddah 266 

Jerusalem Described 284 

Keene 4 

Kamakura ■ 95 

K6h6 and Surroundings 137 

Kioto and Temples 145 

Kandy, a Quaint City 194 

Kerbella and Graves 255 

Lake Champlain 7 

La Salle and Works 16 

Labor in India 206 

Lucknow and Mutiny of 1857-1S58 216 

London 328 

Lakes of Killarney 338 

Landing in New York 346 

Malone 8 

Michigan 13 

Mississippi River 16 

Marshall Pass 26 

Mormon Woman 42 

Minarets of Japan 79 

Mikado's Birthday loi 

Missionary Work in Kioto 149 

Markets of Canton 171 

Mosul and People 258 

Muscat in the midst of Rocks 264 

Mount Sinai 266 

Memphis and Pyramids of Sahara 274 

Mars Hill 308 

Malta and Knight Heraldry 315 

Niagara Falls 10 

Nebraska and Nevada " I9> 38 



INDEX. 353 

Page 

Nikko and Temples 127 

Nineveh and Ruins 257 

Nile 268 

Nablous to Nazareth 290, 292 

Naples and Pompeii 313 

Nearing Home 344 

Omaha 19 

Ogden and Mining Stocks 38 

Oakland and Schools 64 

Osaka . 142 

On, or Heliopolis 270 

Port Huron 12 

Pueblo, the Garden City 24 

Passengers on the " City of Sydney " 66 

Public Schools in Japan 114 

Plants and Trees of Ceylon 193 

Parsees and their Silent Towers. 233-240 

Pyramids of Gizeh 272 

Palestine 281 

Philip II 324 

Passage from England to Ireland ' . . . 334 

Queen Victoria , 330 

Rio Grande Railroad 23 

Royal Gorge 25 

Rockies and Canons 28 

Rice and its Cultivation 140 

Religions of China 175 

Ruins of Old Delhi 225 

Rajpootana and its Scenery 227 

Religious Sects in Bombay . 241 

Red Sea 266 

Reflections on the Atlantic 341 

Sierra Nevadas and Forests 40 

San Francisco and its Growth 53 

23 



354 INDEX. 

Page 

Shops and Stores in Japan 86 

Scenes at a Station 87 

Shintoism 93 

Sufferings of the Dead Relieved . , 99 

Shiba Temple 101, 120 

Stores in Canton 170 

Singapore and Botanical Garden 184 

Shat-el-Arab River 246 

Suez Canal 267 

Sea of Galilee 293 

Spain and her History 319-327 

Torii 95 

Tokio and University 100, in 

Tokians at Meal-time «... 107 

Tea-growing . 141 

Temple of Confucius - . 166 

Temples of Benares and Schools . 213 

Tower of Babel 252 

Tigris River and its History 256 

Thebes 276 

The Old Home 344 

Trip from Bagdad to Mosul . 256 

Utah and Salt Lake City 31 

Utsumomiya and Ride to Nikko 126 

Valley of Wawona . 49 

Visit to a Brahman Temple 202 

Valladolid and Columbus 322 

Walden Pond 3 

Wonders of the Ocean - 67 

Yosemite and its Wonders 50 

Yokohama 83 



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